How 100 grams Disqualified Vinesh Phogat? (image-instagram/vineshphogat)
On Wednesday, August 7, at the Paris Olympics, it was a heart-wrenching day for India as two of their athletes fell agonizingly short of Olympic glory—one missing a medal by just 100 grams and the other by 1,000. Vinesh Phogat, who was at the cusp of grabbing the gold medal was disqualified due to being 100 grams overweight.
Vinesh Phogat scripted history on Tuesday by entering the finals, however, the wrestler was disqualified for being overweight.
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The Chief Medical Officer of IOA, Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala gave a brief account of the wrestler’s weight gain issue. He said that usually, the wrestlers participate in a weight category less than their natural weight which would give them the advantage as they are competing against less strong opponents.
Though Vinesh Phogat had defeated many along the journey, her devastating defeat occurred at 7:30 am in a nondescript room next to a training hall at the Olympic Athlete Village in Paris.
Overseen by a referee, a doctor, and two officials, the wrestlers every morning before heading to Champ-de-Mars will have to stand on the digital weighing scale. The scale will determine whether they would compete on that day.
As per the rule, all the wrestlers including six in men’s and women’s freestyle and six in the men’s Greco-Roman wrestling compete in weight divisions. This was the point that turned out to be an ill-fate for Vinesh. The scale showed 50.10 kg.
For any wrestler, defeating an opponent might be less challenging than an unavoidable weight cut the night before a competition. The wrestlers will have to take extreme measures to crash their diet if they are bigger than their rivals.
In Vinesh’s case, her normal weight is 57kg and she had to cut down to 50kg to compete for the event. She had earlier competed in the 48 kg category at the Rio Olympics. Her weight-cut journey included rationing out a few hundred milliliters of water while training at full tilt. She later moved to the 50 kg category and when that became hard to manage, she went to the 53kg category.
Even this category was hard for her to compete in as several times she would black out in the middle of a match and at some times, she wrestles on instinct.
Why did Phogat go for the 50kg category?
Phogat secured a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in the 53kg category. However, her career hit a roadblock when she spearheaded protests against the former chief Wrestling Federation of India. She had to endure a knee ligament injury.
Despite her absence, Antim Panghal, secured a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships, securing a quota at Paris Olympics in the 53 kg category. As per the existing rule, the quota winner can compete at the Olympics to represent India. However, the ad-hoc committee, temporarily overseeing wrestling in India after the expulsion of Brij Bhushan, assured Phogat a trail for the 53kg category.
However, when WFI regained power and Sanjay Singh was poised to become the new president, the situation became completely uncertain.
And thus Phogat realized that she couldn’t rely on the WFI’s return to guarantee her spot in the 53kg category. She chose to participate in the 50kg category.
Vinesh’s Journey To the Paris Olympics Finals
Adamant to compete, she brought down her weight to 50 kg. She entered the Paris Olympics by not just qualifying for the Asian Olympic qualifiers but by earning her place at a record third Olympics.
The journey became tougher than before. As per the Sportstar report, the wrestler had to spend nights dropping complete water intake and working out on Exercycle in her sauna suit. When she becomes tired, she squeezes out the last drop of sweat by sitting inside a sauna. Then when energy returns, she would head back to cycle. The first-day weigh-in result came out, and Phogat weighed 49.0 kg. And that’s not it, she went on to defeat Susaki, Livach, and then in the evening, the Cuban Guzman.
Though she was confident enough to achieve the glory, her nutritionist had been nervously monitoring her food and fluid intake.
Vinesh had her celebratory glass of juice in the morning which gave her 300 grams. Then a couple of fluids to rehydrate and a couple of snacks to keep her energy up but by the time she was done with her competition, her body weight went up to 52.7 kg.
Read also: Vinesh Phogat Announces Retirement After Paris Olympics Disqualification
Though science played a major role in weight cutting, luck also played a role and that was evident in Phogat’s case. After weeks of dehydration, her body was not ready to give up any amount of water to the extent that even urination became impossible.
She and her team went all night to cut down the weight trying in all the drastic measures, however, the weight did not come down as expected.
When the clock ticked 7:30 am, there was nothing more to be done. Hopeful to get into the category, Phogat stood on the weighing machine. 50.1 it read.
The day before, when a North Korean wrestler failed to make the weight, he took off his underwear, still failing to shed the last bit of grams, he put his finger on the throat and puked out the last bit of content from his stomach. And Vinesh tried the same, unfortunately, nothing came out.
With the faint hope that there would be an error in calibration, she stood on another scale, but the reading read 50.1.
She asked for a few minutes to shed off the few grams, but the officials refused to budge. Vinesh collapsed in the hall and was put immediately on drips and later was rushed to the hospital.
Read also: Vinesh Phogat Appeals In Sports Court, Asks for Silver
Hildebrandt won the gold in the finals while Cuba’s Guzman won her nation’s first wrestling medal- a silver. At the same time, another match for bronze between Livach and Susaki took place. And the irony is that none of them could defeat Vinesh. However, a mere 100 grams defeated Vinesh Phogat.
What Happened To Antim Panghal?
In a major embarrassment for India, Antim Panghal and her entire entourage were deported from Paris following a major disciplinary breach on Wednesday. She had handed over the accreditation to her younger sister to collect her personal belongings from the Games Village but she was caught by security while exiting.
This incident occurred after she suffered a crushing defeat in Woman’s 53kg wrestling against Turkish wrestler Zeynep Yetgil. She was overpowered by the opponent in just 101 seconds during the first round. 53kg category was once dominated by Vinesh Phogat.
The situation of Antim worsened when her personal support staff, Vikas and Bhagat, allegedly traveled in a cab while inebriated and refused to pay the fare which prompted the driver to call the police.
