Wrestler Vinesh Phogat out of Olympics for failing weigh-in - despite haircut and overnight workouts
India's top female wrestler, Vinesh Phogat, has been disqualified from the gold medal match of the Olympic women’s 50kg freestyle category after failing Wednesday's weigh-in.
Team India said Phogat weighed just 100 grams over the limit - the equivalent of a small apple. Competition rules say wrestlers must stay in their weight category on both days of the tournament.
Phogat exercised all night - jogging, skipping and cycling - and even cut her hair in an attempt to shed the necessary weight. Though she did lose around 1.85 kilograms, her team said she was still over-weight by 100 grams.
The 29-year-old, who stunned four-time world and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the first of her three matches on Tuesday, would have been the first women’s wrestler from India to compete for a gold medal.
Instead, she left empty-handed and has been ranked last in the competition.
Following the decision of her disqualification by United World Wrestling, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Phogat a “champion among champions” and “India’s pride” in a post on X.
“Today’s setback hurts. I wish words could express the sense of despair that I am experiencing," he wrote.
"At the same time, I know that you epitomise resilience. It has always been your nature to take challenges head on. Come back stronger! We are all rooting for you.”
Team India posted on X acknowledging Phogat's disqualification and requested respect for her privacy. They will make no further comments.
Dinshaw Pardiwala, chief medical officer for India’s team, said in a statement that wrestlers usually participate in a weight category below their natural weight because it gives them the advantage of facing opponents who naturally are smaller.
Wrestlers can often then regain weight quickly after weigh-ins. This is common practice in other sports such as Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.
However, one reason weight-cutting for the Olympics is extra difficult is that there are just six weight classes as opposed to 10 for other international competitions. Such a wide gap in weights often leads to more extreme measures being taken.
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American Jordan Burroughs, a six-time world champion who won Olympic gold in 2012, lashed out against Olympic organisers on social media with respect to Phogat's disqualification.
“Maybe stories like this will wake up the IOC (International Olympic Committee),” Burroughs wrote.
“Wrestling needs MORE than six weight classes! After three tough matches against world class opponents, no athlete should have to spend the night preparing for a Gold medal in this manner.”
Last year, Phogat became the public face of an ongoing protest movement that created global headlines and sparked a fierce #MeToo debate.
She and other top wrestlers camped for weeks demanding action on sexual harassment claims made against the president of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Singh, who denied the charges.
The row gained even more media attention after police detained Phogat and other wrestlers when they tried to march to India's new parliament building.
After her disqualification on Wednesday, members of the public as well as other athletes recognised the wrestler as a hero as support poured in.
Team USA's Sarah Hildebrandt won the 50-kilogram women's category on Wednesday, defeating Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba 3-0 in the championship match to become the fourth US woman to win a gold medal.
“As a big weight cutter myself, yeah, I feel for [Phogat]," Hildebrandt said. “She had an amazing day yesterday, did an insane feat and, you know, I don’t think she saw that happening, ending her Olympics like that.
"So for sure, my heart goes out to her. I think she’s an amazing competitor, an amazing wrestler and person.”
Susaki eventually earned a bronze medal with a 10-0 win over Oksana Livach of Ukraine.
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