Vinesh Phogat disqualified from Paris Olympics gold medal bout; won’t win any medal

Vinesh Phogat, who scripted history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final at an Olympics, was disqualified on Wednesday from the women’s 50kg event hours before her gold-medal bout against American Sarah Hildebrand at the Champ-de-Mars Arena after being found overweight.

In a cruel twist of fate for the 29-year-old from Haryana, who beat all off-the-mat odds to make the Paris Olympic qualification cut and later scripted a stunning run to the final on Tuesday, which included the win against defending champion and world no. 1 Yui Susaki of Japan in the opener, couldn’t make the weight limits on the morning of her final. She was found 100-150 grams over the permissible limit and hence was disqualified.

What was the issue with Vinesh Phogat’s weight?

Based on the rules of the competition, wrestlers have to show their weight on the morning of the preliminary rounds and the morning of the final. While she was well within the permissible limit of 50 kg on Tuesday, her weight increased throughout the day, when she went through three bouts. According to Indian Express, she was two kilograms above her weight at night and hence did not sleep to try everything in her capacity to fit the eligibility criteria – from jogging to skipping and cycling.

Based on a report in Sportstar, the athlete, and her coaches, and support staff even took the extreme route of cutting her hair and trying to draw blood, but she was still found 150 grams above the permissible limit.

What does the rulebook say?

According to Article 11 of the United World Wrestling’s rule book, an athlete who doesn’t make the permissible weight cut will be eliminated from the tournament. “If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated of the competition and ranked last, without rank (Exception: cf. Article 56 – Medical Service Intervention)”

No medal for Vinesh Phogat

Owing to the disqualification, Vinesh will lose the opportunity to have her hands on a maiden Olympic medal. Hence, the women’s 50kg freestyle wrestling will only have a gold medal winner and two bronze. Hildebrand will finish top of the podium while the two third-place finishes will be decided after the repechage rounds on Wednesday.

What was IOA’s statement?

“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the Women’s Wrestling 50kg class,” the IOA said in a statement. “Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed in a few grams over 50kg this morning. No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time. The Indian team requests you respect Vinesh’s privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand.”