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Who is Vinesh Phogat, the wrestler who lost an Olympic medal over her weight?
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Vinesh Phogat’s dream of winning India’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics ended in what for wrestlers is a nightmare scenario: She failed to make weight for the women’s 50-kilogram category final. After initially winning a chance for a gold or silver medal, her disqualification means she will leave France without a medal of any type.
Phogat was found to be 100 grams over the limit — about 3.5 ounces, similar to a deck of cards — according to the Indian Olympic Association. After having three bouts on Tuesday, her weight was found to have increased a bit more than normal, the association’s chief medical officer, Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, said on Wednesday.
Phogat had a successful weigh-in on Tuesday morning, Pardiwala said, and her nutritionist calculated that she could have around 1 1/2 kilograms of water and food. She also drank small amounts of water after her matches.
But when staff checked her weight, it was over the limit. The athlete’s usual strategies for cutting weight weren’t successful, Pardiwala said.
“We had tried all possible drastic measures throughout the night, including cutting off her hair, shortening her clothes,” Pardiwala said. But to no avail.
It was a cruel way to end what had seemed to be a charmed run to the gold medal match, as Phogat delivered a string of victories over highly ranked opponents. After two heartbreaking Olympics — a terrible knee injury ended her Rio 2016 campaign, and a shocking upset ousted her in Tokyo — she was finally on track to win the medal many have seen as her destiny.
Her disqualification “is very shocking,” said Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha, who met with Phogat in the Olympic Village on Wednesday.
“We are providing Vinesh all medical and emotional support,” Usha said, adding that India’s wrestling federation has filed an appeal asking that the disqualification be reconsidered.
An Olympic medal would have been something of a salve to a year of turmoil in India’s wrestling community. Last summer, Phogat took on a prominent role in high-profile protests against sexual harassment, as she and other top wrestlers called for action against then-Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Singh, an influential politician who was also once the president of the Wrestling Federation of India.
As NPR reported last year, Singh was “accused by the country's seven most high-profile wrestlers, including a minor, of groping them, stalking them, demanding sexual favors and threatening them if they refuse to entertain his advances.”
Singh has denied the allegations. In the New Delhi protests against him, Phogat and other elite athletes were confronted by police who dragged them away and detained them.
After Wednesday’s abrupt elimination derailed Phogat’s chance for an Olympic medal, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said via X, “Vinesh, you are a champion among champions! You are India's pride and an inspiration for each and every Indian.”
Acknowledging a “sense of despair” over the outcome, Modi added, “At the same time, I know that you epitomise resilience. It has always been your nature to take challenges head on.”
At the Paris Games, Phogat defeated a roster of champions in a single day to earn a spot against Team USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt in Wednesday’s final. In her first match, she upset the reigning Olympic champion, Yui Susaki of Japan. She then beat former European champion Oksana Livach of Ukraine in the quarterfinals and Pan American Games champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba in the semifinals.
Because of Phogat’s disqualification, Guzman was elevated to the final to face Hildebrandt. The American won the gold.
Phogat comes from a family famous for its female wrestlers: her cousins’ story inspired the Bollywood film Dangal, from Walt Disney’s India subsidiary. She has also spoken out in favor of empowering girls and giving them more support to pursue sports.
She told The Hindu news outlet in 2018, “most importantly, girls need to stand up for what they want to do. It’s not just about sports — even otherwise, in education or in life, girls need to stop feeling pity for themselves or considering themselves weak. You have to have the strength of belief in yourself. The first step has to be taken by a girl herself; everything else follows.”
When she's injury-free, Phogat racked up wins on the mat from an early age. She took bronze at the world championships and top titles at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian championships. Her results, sometimes in weight categories a bit heavier than 50kg, have long fueled hopes for Olympic greatness that, because of around 100 grams, now remain unfulfilled.
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