Vinesh Phogat of Group India (in crimson) defeated a trio of present or former champions on Tuesday — however after failing to make weight for her 50-kilogram bout on Wednesday, she was disqualified from the gold medal match on the Paris Olympics. She’s seen right here after her win over Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Group Cuba in Paris.
Sarah Stier/Getty Photos
cover caption
toggle caption
Sarah Stier/Getty Photos
NPR is in Paris for the 2024 Summer time Olympics. For extra of our protection from the video games head to our newest updates.
Vinesh Phogat’s dream of successful India’s first gold medal on the Paris Olympics led to what for wrestlers is a nightmare state of affairs: She did not make weight for the ladies’s 50-kilogram class ultimate. After initially successful an opportunity for a gold or silver medal, her disqualification means she’s going to go away France with out a medal of any kind.
Phogat was discovered to be 100 grams over the restrict — about 3.5 ounces, just like a deck of playing cards — in keeping with the Indian Olympic Affiliation. After having three bouts on Tuesday, her weight was discovered to have elevated a bit greater than regular, the affiliation’s chief medical officer, Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, mentioned on Wednesday.
Phogat had a profitable weigh-in on Tuesday morning, Pardiwala mentioned, and her nutritionist calculated that she might have round 1 1/2 kilograms of water and meals. She additionally drank small quantities of water after her matches.
However when workers checked her weight, it was over the restrict. The athlete’s standard methods for slicing weight weren’t profitable, Pardiwala mentioned.
“We had tried all doable drastic measures all through the night time, together with slicing off her hair, shortening her garments,” Pardiwala mentioned. However to no avail.
It was a merciless method to finish what had gave the impression to be a charmed run to the gold medal match, as Phogat delivered a string of victories over extremely ranked opponents. After two heartbreaking Olympics — a horrible knee damage ended her Rio 2016 marketing campaign, and a stunning upset ousted her in Tokyo — she was lastly on observe to win the medal many have seen as her future.
Her disqualification “may be very stunning,” mentioned Indian Olympic Affiliation President PT Usha, who met with Phogat within the Olympic Village on Wednesday.
“We’re offering Vinesh all medical and emotional assist,” Usha mentioned, including that India’s wrestling federation has filed an enchantment asking that the disqualification be reconsidered.
An Olympic medal would have been one thing of a salve to a 12 months of turmoil in India’s wrestling neighborhood. Final summer time, Phogat took on a distinguished position in high-profile protests towards sexual harassment, as she and different high wrestlers referred to as for motion towards then-Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Singh, an influential politician who was additionally as soon as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India.
Vinesh Phogat (heart) and different elite Indian wrestlers had been detained by the police in New Delhi final 12 months as they protested towards Brij Bhushan Singh, who was then the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation.
Arun Thakur/AFP by way of Getty Photos
cover caption
toggle caption
Arun Thakur/AFP by way of Getty Photos
As NPR reported final 12 months, Singh was “accused by the nation’s seven most high-profile wrestlers, together with a minor, of groping them, stalking them, demanding sexual favors and threatening them in the event that they refuse to entertain his advances.”
Singh has denied the allegations. Within the New Delhi protests towards him, Phogat and different elite athletes had been confronted by police who dragged them away and detained them.
After Wednesday’s abrupt elimination derailed Phogat’s probability for an Olympic medal, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned by way of X, “Vinesh, you’re a champion amongst champions! You’re India’s satisfaction and an inspiration for every Indian.”
Vinesh, you’re a champion amongst champions! You’re India’s satisfaction and an inspiration for every Indian.
In the present day’s setback hurts. I want phrases might specific the sense of despair that I’m experiencing.
On the identical time, I do know that you simply epitomise resilience. It has all the time…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 7, 2024
Acknowledging a “sense of despair” over the end result, Modi added, “On the identical time, I do know that you simply epitomise resilience. It has all the time been your nature to take challenges head on.”
On the Paris Video games, Phogat defeated a roster of champions in a single day to earn a spot towards Group USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt in Wednesday’s ultimate. In her first match, she upset the reigning Olympic champion, Yui Susaki of Japan. She then beat former European champion Oksana Livach of Ukraine within the quarterfinals and Pan American Video games champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba within the semifinals.
Due to Phogat’s disqualification, Guzman was elevated to the ultimate to face Hildebrandt.
Phogat comes from a household well-known for its feminine wrestlers: her cousins’ story impressed the Bollywood movie Dangal, from Walt Disney’s India subsidiary. She has additionally spoken out in favor of empowering ladies and giving them extra assist to pursue sports activities.
She advised The Hindu information outlet in 2018, “most significantly, ladies want to face up for what they need to do. It’s not nearly sports activities — even in any other case, in training or in life, ladies have to cease feeling pity for themselves or contemplating themselves weak. You must have the energy of perception in your self. Step one must be taken by a woman herself; all the things else follows.”
When she’s injury-free, Phogat racked up wins on the mat from an early age. She took bronze on the world championships and high titles on the Commonwealth Video games and the Asian championships. Her outcomes, generally in weight classes a bit heavier than 50kg, have lengthy fueled hopes for Olympic greatness that, due to round 100 grams, now stay unfulfilled.
