At the age of 12, Chanu's family identified her strength when she was able to carry huge bundles of firewood which the older members of her family found hard to pick up
In 2017, she won the gold medal in the Women's 48 kg category by lifting a competition record 194 kg in total (85 kg snatch and 109 kg clean & jerk) in World Weightlifting Championships
Chanu lifted a total of 196 kg, 86 kg in Snatch and 110 kg in Clean and Jerk to win the first gold medal for India in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. En route to the medal, she broke the games record for her weight category
Chanu won the silver medal in 49 kg division at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with a total lift of 202 kg, becoming the first Indian weightlifter to win silver at Olympics