A day after her heartbreaking exit from the Paris Olympics, star grappler Vinesh Phogat has announced her retirement from the sport.
The 29-year-old, who was disqualified for being 100gm overweight ahead of her 50kg category gold medal bout at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, announced her decision to quit the sport in an emotional post.
Addressing her mother Premlata, Vinesh wrote, “Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is broken. I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I shall be indebted to you all. Forgive (me),” the two-time world championships bronze medallist wrote.
Vinesh reached the final of the women’s 50kg weight category on Tuesday after defeating defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan, former European champion Oksana Livach of Ukraine and reigning Pan American Games champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba.
She was almost set to become the first Indian woman to compete in a wrestling final at the Olympics, but her dream was cut short after she failed to make the weight on the morning of the gold medal bout against the USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt.
Despite taking some drastic measures to cut down her weight, Vinesh was found marginally overweight at the mandatory weigh-in and was disqualified. Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinals, replaced her in the final against Sarah Hildebrandt.
Hildebrandt won the bout to claim gold and Vinesh is now banking on CAS to be a joint silver-medallist with Lopez.
After being disqualified, Vinesh spent a good part of the day at the Games Village polyclinic inside owing to severe dehydration caused by her desperate measures to make the cut, which included going hungry, avoiding fluids and staying up all night to sweat it out.
Vinesh’s retirement announcement came after she had appealed against her disqualification from the final bout on Wednesday in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), demanding that she be awarded a joint silver medal.
The ad-hoc division of the CAS that has been set up in Paris for resolution by arbitration of any disputes arising during the Olympic Games or during a period of 10 days preceding the opening ceremony, is expected to come up with a reply by late Thursday.
Rules are in place for benefit of athletes: UWW
Hours after Vinesh’s disqualification, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha had assured that the IOA and the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will take up the matter with the United World Wrestling, the sport’s international governing body.
In his response, the UWW president Nenad Lalovic said that the current weigh-in rule “cannot be changed in retrospect” while sympathising with Vinesh for her ordeal.
“On IOA’s suggestion that a wrestler’s results from the day on which the athlete met the weigh-in requirements should not be disqualified, the UWW President was sympathetic. UWW will also discuss the suggestion at an appropriate platform but it could not be done retrospectively,” a statement from the UWW read.
“UWW follows the set rules in all competitions including the Games. Its decision to disqualify Vinesh is in line with the rules of international wrestling, like all other instances of wrestlers failing to weigh in on the day of the competition,” a statement from UWW stated.
“UWW wishes Vinesh a speedy recovery and hopes Vinesh can continue to perform in the inspiring way she did in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games,” it added.
Usha, on her part, maintained that it was important for athletes to uphold Olympic values and fair play.
“Usha thanked Lalovic for taking in the Wrestling Federation of India’s appeal and giving her a patient hearing. She said as an athlete herself she understood the importance of the need for rules to be drawn up to protect athletes from taking health risks.
“She also said it was important for all athletes to uphold Olympic values and fair play,” the statement further stated.