In a shocking turn of events, wrestler Vinesh Phogat was on Wednesday disqualified from the Paris Olympics after being found overweight ahead of the crucial women’s 50kg final, later tonight.
Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinal, has been named as the Indian’s replacement for the gold medal bout against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt.
“Vinesh failed the second day’s weigh-in. According to Article 11 of the International Wrestling Rules, Vinesh will be replaced by the wrestler who lost against her in the Semifinal. Therefore Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (Cuba) will compete in the final,” said the organisers in an official statement.
The statement further mentioned that the repechage bout between the top-seeded Japanese wrestler Yui Susaki, who lost her first-ever international bout to Vinesh in the opening round, and Ukraine’s Oksana Livach, who suffered a 5-7 defeat against the Indian in the quarterfinals, will now be a bronze medal match.
Vinesh had on Tuesday scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout at the Olympics. However, on the day of her gold medal bout, Vinesh missed the weight cut by a little over 100 grams during the weigh-in, leading to her disqualification.
“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the women’s wrestling 50kg class. Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed a few grams over 50kg this morning. No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time,” a statement from the Indian contingent read.
“The Indian team requests you to respect Vinesh’s privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand,” it further read.
This is not the first instance when Vinesh has encountered problems in meeting the weight requirements for the 50kg category, a division lower than her usual 53kg class. Earlier, during the Olympic qualifiers, the grappler faced a similar challenge where she barely managed to qualify.
According to reliable sources in the Indian contingent, the grappler in a desperate attempt to shed the extra weight, spent the entire night engaging in various activities, such as jogging, skipping and cycling.
Despite spending a sleepless night, and the relentless efforts, Vinesh failed to get rid of the extra weight, and was found to be a few grams over the required limit. The Indian contingent made an earnest appeal for an extension, hoping to provide her with a final opportunity to lose weight. However, their requests were denied by the organisers.
As per the competition rules, the disqualification means Phogat will finish last in the 50kg standings, and return empty-handed from a third straight Olympics.
While Phogat successfully made the weight (49.90 kg) for the bouts on Tuesday, the rules state that wrestlers must maintain their body weight within the required limits throughout the entire competition.
Earlier, all the bouts, including the final was held on the same day. However, the rule was changed from the 2016 Rio Games, and accordingly the final bouts are conducted a day after the initial three bouts.
According to the rules, wrestlers are required to weigh in twice: once on the morning of the preliminary rounds and again on the morning of the final. Vinesh successfully met the weight limit during the first weigh-in on Tuesday morning.
However, after competing in three bouts, including the historic win over defending champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the opener, Vinesh’s weight likely increased after replenishing herself throughout the day.
The United World Wrestlings’s rule book, specifically Article 11, states, “If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last, without rank.”
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha said in a video message that the entire country is with the grappler, and assured her off all medical and emotional support.
“Vinesh’s disqualification is really shocking. I met Vinesh at the Village Polyclinic a short while ago and assured her complete support of the Indian Olympic Association, the government and the whole country. We are providing Vinesh all medical and emotional support,” Usha said.
The legendary sprinter also said that the IOA is closely following up with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), which has filed an appeal with the United World Wrestling to consider the decision.
“The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has filed an appeal to United World Wrestling to consider the decision to disqualify Vinesh and the IOA is following that in the strongest possible manner. I’m aware of the relentless effort made by Vinesh’ medical team led by Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala and the chef-de-mission Gagan Narang through the night to ensure that she could meet the competition requirements,” Usha said.
Here’s a timeline of how Vinesh went the extra mile to shed the extra weight:
Tuesday, 7 PM (Paris time): Vinesh won the semifinal against Guzman Lopez 5-0.
8 PM: Vinesh returned to training. Her weight which measured 49.9 kgs on Tuesday morning was likely to have increased by about 2 kgs, after replenishing herself following three bouts. During training she jogged, cycled and skipped — all that for a couple of hours.
11 pm: Vinesh went to the sauna to cut water weight. According to insiders, her coach and the support staff used unconventional ways like cutting her hair, shortening the length of clothes to help her get to the required weight. She didn’t have food or water the entire night.
Wednesday 5 am: Vinesh began training that lasted for a couple of hours. She trained on the cycle, treadmill, and even sparred with a training partner but unfortunately couldn’t get to the permissible limit.
8 am: Vinesh went for the weigh-in, she was found 110 grams over weight. She tried all measures, further shortening her hair but still couldn’t manage. The Indian team’s chef-de-mission Gagan Narang and Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, the contingent doctor were there during the process.
And soon after, the organisers announced their decision to disqualify her and strip her of her medal.