"Whether or not I look indian, I am indian and represent India, with pride and all my heart. - Mary Kom"
1982 - present
"Whether or not I look indian, I am indian and represent India, with pride and all my heart. - Mary Kom"
Kom was born in Kagathei village, Moirang Lamkhai in the Churachandpur district of rural Manipur in India. She came from a poor Kom family. Her parents, Mangte Tonpa Kom and Mangte Akham Kom were tenant farmers who worked in jhum fields. They named her Chungneijang. Kom grew up in humble surroundings, helping her parents with farm-related chores, going to school, and learning athletics initially and later boxing simultaneously. Kom's father was a keen wrestler in his younger days. She is the eldest of three children – she has a younger sister and a brother.[26] She hails from a Christian Baptist family. Kom studied at the Loktak Christian Model High School at Moirang up to her sixth standard and thereafter attended St. Xavier Catholic School, Moirang, up to class 8.
After her marriage, Kom took a short hiatus from boxing. After giving birth to her first child, Kom started training once again. She won a silver medal at the 2008 Asian Women's Boxing Championship in India and a fourth successive gold medal at the 2008 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in China, followed by a gold medal at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam. In 2010, Kom won the gold medal at the Asian Women's Boxing Championship in Kazakhstan, and at the 2010 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Barbados, her fifth consecutive gold at the championship. She competed in Barbados in the 48 kg weight category, after AIBA had stopped using the 46 kg class. In the 2010 Asian Games, she competed in the 51 kg class and won a bronze medal. In 2011, she won gold in the 48 kg class at the Asian Women's Cup in China.
Mary Kom set a new standard in amateur boxing without ever competing in professional boxing. In 2015, Kom became the first amateur to surpass several professional athletes in India in earnings, endorsements and awards. She is the first amateur athlete to win the Padma Bhushan.
Her autobiography, Unbreakable, was co-authored by Dina Serto and published by HarperCollins in late 2013. An excerpt from this biography has been given as a prose lesson in Samacheer Kalvi English textbook for 11th standard. Priyanka Chopra portrayed Kom in Mary Kom, a 2014 Hindi language biographical film about her life. The movie is directed by Omung Kumar and was released on 5 September 2014. The Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, a children's book which features short stories about female role models to children, includes an entry on Mary Kom. Kom also features in the 2016 documentary With This Ring, which follows the experiences of India's women's boxing team across the course of six years from 2006 - 2012.
Kom is married to the footballer Karung Onkholer (Onler). Kom first met her husband in 2000 after her luggage was stolen while travelling by train to Bangalore. In New Delhi while on her way to the National Games in Punjab she met Onkholer who was studying law at Delhi University. Onkholer was the president of the North East students body and helped Kom. They became friends and thereafter began dating each other. After four years they were married in 2005. Together they have three sons, twins born in 2007, and another son born in 2013. In 2018, Kom and her husband adopted a girl named Merilyn.
Kom is an animal rights activist, and supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, starring in an ad to call for an end to the use of elephants in circuses. "Circuses are cruel places for animals where they are beaten and tortured. As a mother, I can imagine what animals go through when their children are taken away from them to forcefully perform in circuses. It's sad," Kom has been quoted in the media.
Mary Kom on Thursday said she plans to hang her gloves after winning the elusive gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The 36-year-old has an 18-year long illustrious career, with six World Championships, an Olympic bronze medal, and five Asian Championships to show.