“They talked about my appearance, my ethnicity, my caste… and not about my achievements”.
That is what Keyaa Kunal Banerji, a young Indian weightlifter, said after winning the silver medal at the IPF World Sub-Junior and Junior Championships. Her feat was no small achievement: she lifted 140 kilos, reportedly more than three times her own body weight. The video went viral within hours.
But fame brought something no one expected. Instead of recognition, Keyaa received constant harassment, fake accounts created in her name, and comments that attacked her ethnicity and caste instead of celebrating her effort. Thousands of AI-manipulated images began circulating using her identity without her consent.
She put it clearly: she only wants to be known as a girl who loves deadlifting. Nothing more, nothing less. The world decided to turn her into something else.