Paris Olympics 2024, Day 12 Highlights: Mirabai Chanu misses out on historic second medal after Vinesh's heartbreak

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Well, what can you say about that day? Winning a medal was always going to be an uphill struggle for Mirabai Chanu, considering her problems with injuries in recent years. And yet, she is India's SIXTH fourth-place finish at these Games in Paris. Getting to the men's 3000m steeplechase final itself was a big achievement for Avinash Sable, and so anything he did after that was a bonus, really.

And for the biggest news of the day. Vinesh Phogat misses out on a medal in her third Olympics in just the most extraordinary, the most unbelievable, the most crushing and dumbfounding fashion. The reactions that we have seen over the course of the day from practically every sphere of life in India shows just how much of a sucker punch this has been for the country. Vinesh had, in some ways, become the soul of India's campaign with the way she knifed through her extremely formidable, star-studded draw and was in line to win the country's best medal in Paris thus far, win or lose. And then, came those pesky 100gm. Less than the weight of an average bar of soap, the weight of two eggs, as for 100gms of onion in a vegetable market and the shopkeeper might look at you suspiciously; but enough to cost Vinesh and India a potential gold medal. A gold that could've redefined what success means for Indians at the Olympics. A gold that could've shown kids that you can be the best in your sport AND fight the good fight.

Well, maybe the gold isn't needed when it comes to Vinesh. Those who know the sport would tell you that Vinesh Phogat is already one of the greatest wrestlers the country has ever produced. She is also a towering personality in India's sporting history for how she stuck to her guns in the face of extraordinary mental and physical harassment while being the life of the wrestlers' protest. Maybe this Olympic medal is nothing more than a missing piece in her overflowing trophy cabinet. And maybe this missing piece will come at LA 2028.

Anyhow, tomorrow is another day and it is a big day for India. It is a day when the country could win a second consecutive hockey medal for the first time since 1956. It is a day when a certain javelin thrower could become the first Indian to win two individual Olympic gold medals, and break a plethora of other records in his sport. So plenty to look forward to. Good night!

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Avinash Sable has finished 11th with a time of 8:14.18, which is just about five seconds below the national record which also belongs to him.

Soufiane el Bakkali of Morocco has won gold and is the first man since 1932 to succesfully defend his men's 3000m steeplechase title at the Olympics. He ran a season-best time of 8:06.05 while USA's Kenneth Rooks ran a personal-best 8:06.41 to take silver. Kenya's Abraham Kibiwot ran a season-best 8:06.47 to win bronze.

There is some concern here though, as Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia, considered El Bakkali's biggest rival for gold, hit a hurdle and fell pretty hard during the race. He is being stretchered off.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Hou was having an uncharacteristically poor day today but she ends with a stunning lift of 117kg! She has broken the clean and jerk Olympic record to jump up and defend her gold medal! Talk about a clutch moment! Romania's Valentina Cambei takes the silver with a total lift of 205kg. Thailand's Surodchana Khambao takes the bronze with 200kg. Mirabai Chanu finishes fourth with a total of 199kg.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: We move quickly to the Stade de France where Avinash Sable is representing India in the men's 3000m steeplechase. He had finished fifth in the qualification yesterday, not that it matters now. He had slowed down towards the end there to conserve energy for the final, as did everyone else.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: She manages the clean but oh she has dropped it on the jerk. Mirabai covers her face and then walks off. It won't be a second consecutive medal for her, she has finished fourth. Another in a long, long list of fourth-place finishes for Indians at the Paris Olympics.

One has to remember that she hasn't lifted these kinds of weights for quite a while. Mirabai had been riddled by injuries in the years since the Tokyo Olympics.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Surodchana Khambao lifts 112 and that takes her total to 200kg. Then Cambei comes in and lifts 112 on her third attempt. Her total is 205kg and she is in the gold-medal position. Mirabai has a total of 199kg and here she comes for her final attempt. She has listed 114kg as her last lift…

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Cambei is leading with a total lift of 203kg. Hou second with 199kg and Mirabai third with 199kg

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Mirabai lifts. Her clean is good once again. She drops beneath the bar for the jerk and THIS TIME IT IS GOOD! Mirabai has gone back to the bronze-medal position

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: All right, she takes her time… nails the clean, and then tries to drop beneath the bar for the jerk but is unsuccessful!

She is returning straightaway for her second lift which will also be 111kg.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: How does this matter? Well, Mirabai has listed 111kg as her first attempt, which means she will fall significantly behind first and second if she doesn't succesfully lift this. Moreover, Cambei has managed a lift of 110kg in her second attempt and so Mirabai will be out of the medal positions if she fails to lift this succesfully. Piron attempts 110kg as well but was unsuccessful, and so, here comes Mirabai now to try and lift 111kg.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: For now, her first attempt is the highest listed weight in clean and jerk. Defending champion Hou has listed 110kg as her first attempt, as has Khambao of Thailand.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: It may not be past 12am in Paris yet but it is here so everybody wish Mirabai a very happy birthday. In fact wish that she has a very very happy birthday indeed. We have now seen the first 106kg lift - Mihaela Cambei managed that and she has jumped up to the lead with a total lift of 199kg. She has 107kg as her next lift. Up next is Chinese Taipei's Wan-Ling Fang who is attempting 106kg for her second clean and jerk lift.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Vinesh Phogat has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) against her disqualification from the women's 50kg final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Phogat has appealed to the CAS for permission to compete for the gold medal. If that is not granted, she has requested to be awarded a joint silver medal. CAS is expected to provide an interim ruling on Thursday, with the possibility of overturning the original decision.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Lagatao managed a lift of 77kg on her second attempt and unsuccessfully attempted 79kg on her third. She thus has a best lift of 77kg in clean and jerk and 59kg before that in snatch. She thus finishes her final with a total lift of 136kg. Madagascar's Rosnia Randafiarison is up next, she had a best lift of 80kg in snatch. Her first lift in clean and jerk has been listed as 95 and she nails that perfectly. Her second lift is now listed as 100kg.

In case you are wondering, the final score of a lifter is the sum of her best lift in snatch and clean and jerk.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Clean and jerk is where Mirabai Chanu really excels. She used to be the world record holder in this with a best lift of 117kg. She then improved that world record to 119kg but the current record is 124kg by North Korea's Ri Song Gum, who is not at these Olympics. The Olympic record is 116kg by Hou Zhihui, who is at these Games of course but she seemed far from her best in the snatch series.

Hou holds the world record of 97kg in snatch, which she set up this year itself, and the Olympic record of 94kg which she set at Tokyo 2020. Her best snatch lift today was just 89kg.

Mirabai listed 107kg as her opening attempt in clean and jerk. It is the fourth highest out of 11 remaining lifters and so there is some time before the Indian walks out.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Cambei lifts 91kg in her first attempt and she lists 93kg as her third, the same has Hou. The Chinese is out there now... and she is unsuccesfull in her attempt to lift 93kg! This is quite a surprise. She finishes with a best lift of 89kg which is a real underperformance by her standards, and those being set by Cambei.

The Romanian has also set 93kg as her third attempt and now here she is...AND SHE DOES IT! Cambei with a comprehensive lead at the top after the snatch round having registered a best lift of 93kg!

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Reigning two-time European champion Mihaela Cambei comes in and absolutely nails her first lift of 89kg. She has now listed 91kg as her second lift.

Hou comes back to lift 89 on her second attempt and she is successful. All this means that Mirabai has now gone down to third. Hou has now listed 93 as her third and final attempt!

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Thailand's Khambao also lifts 88kg but Mirabai stays in the lead since the Indian had lifted that weight first. Now comes Chinese defending champion Hou Zhihui, who has listed 89kg as her first attempt. She lifts... BUT IT IS JUDGED AS A NO-LIFT! MIRABAI STAYS IN THE LEAD!

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: She lifts it and takes a second before standing. Seems to hold it for an eternity with a smile on her face and the buzzer goes off. Mirabai has taken the lead for now.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: This is it for her third and final attempt in snatch. It is 88kg again. Once again, she takes her time…

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: She takes her time with this one as well. But this time. She is unable to lift herself off the floor. Her best, for now, remains 85kg.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Mirabai Chanu's second weight has been listed as 88kg. We can see Beatriz Piron attempting the same for her second lift now—and she is unsuccessful! Up next is Mirabai!

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: Mirabai is now fourth, having lifted 85 after Piron of Dominican Republic did so. Thailand's Surodchana Khambao leads with a best lift of 86kg thus far on her first attempt. Belgium's Nina Sterckx had listed 86kg as her opening attempt. She failed to lift it, then she failed to lift it on her second attempt as well. Now she has come for her third.... and she fails that as well.

Nina Stercx of Belgium is the first to be eliminated today.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: She saw, she lifted, she smiled, she dropped, she did a namaste, and she left. That was bread and butter for Mirabai. She had her game face on as she dipped her hands in the chalk powder and walked up to the bar. She then did her thing and that wonderful smile the country is used to seeing appears when she gets that bell settled above her head.

Mirabai is currently the joint leader with Dominican Republic's Beatriz Piron.

Paris Olympics 2024 Live Updates Day 12: All right, we have got to 85kg, which is Mirabai's entry attempt. Here she is, clad in India blue. Heavy strapping on her legs.