On the day the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) ad hoc committee dismissed Vinesh Phogat’s appeal against the United World Wrestling (UWW), declaring she would not receive an Olympic medal, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh blamed the wrestlers’ protest for India securing just one medal in wrestling at the Paris Olympics 2024.
He stated, “India could have won six more medals in wrestling, but given the disturbances in the sport over the last 15-16 months, we lost many medals.” Sanjay Singh added that the country could have won six more medals in wrestling alone but due to the “ongoing disturbances and controversies in the sport” during the past months, the country lost many medals.
“We are hopeful that the CAS verdict will be in our favour. WFI wants the verdict to be in favour of India as it is the country’s medal, not someone’s personal medal. It will be added to India’s medal tally,” he said.
Sanjay also noted that the category of the sport was chosen by the player personally, implying that maintaining the weight was solely the player’s responsibility. “Gaining and reducing weight at quick intervals takes a toll on the player’s body. She was given every facility she asked for, including training with a foreign coach in Hungary,” stated Singh.
Medal or no medal, Vinesh Phogat went through an ordeal, she couldn’t even talk about. Despite her herculean effort, India didn’t win a single gold medal. Vinesh came close, but she wasn’t defeated by an opponent; she was disqualified for exceeding the weight limit by just 100 grams. However, those 100 grams weren’t the real reason she lost her medal. The real reasons were politics and systematic non-cooperation within her own country, along with a federation that doesn’t care about the wrestlers – issues that no one is talking about but need to be addressed. If we don’t stand up for our players, who will?
In 2022, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) changed the rules for Olympic trials, introducing a wrestle-off to decide who would go to the Olympics. Players who secured a quota didn’t directly get to go; this was done to ensure that the player in the best form went to the Olympics and that a fair chance was given to all players, as the quota is for a country, not a particular player. However, the WFI changed its own rules when Vinesh Phogat asked for a wrestle-off with Antim Pangal to go to the Olympics in the 53 kg category, which was her usual category. The WFI announced that there would be no trials or wrestle-offs and that quota winners would go in the categories they won.
They claimed this was done to ensure that weight cuts didn’t lead to injuries and to ensure top performance.
But the same concern was not shown to Vinesh Phogat, who had to cut her weight severely from 57 kg to 50 kg in just two months.
Sarah Hildebrandt, who won the gold medal in the 50 kg category at the Paris Olympics, would have faced Vinesh if she hadn’t been disqualified. Sarah had been competing in the 55 kg category a few years ago and managed her weight cut for the Paris Olympics. When asked how she managed it, she explained that her weight cut process began in 2022. She said, “I knew it was going to be uncomfortable for a year, but it will make my job easier in 2024.”
Do you know how much time Vinesh Phogat had to cut her weight to 50 kg? Just two months after a complex knee surgery. Two months. And we expected her to win gold against athletes who had been preparing for two years?
Vinesh suffered a severe knee injury in August 2023 during her protest, and it took her six months to recover from surgery. By February 2024, she was back in training and won the 55 kg event at the National Wrestling Championship. But since there was no 55 kg category in the Olympics, Vinesh’s aim was to go for the 53 kg category, which was also her usual category. But she had no clarity if she would be given a chance to go to the Paris Olympics in the 53 kg category. Why? We will come to it in a bit.
She asked the federation to give her in writing if she would be sent to the Paris Olympics in the 53 kg weight category. When she didn’t get any confirmation, and she had to participate in the Olympics, which you can only do if you secure a quota for the country by winning an Olympic event before the Olympics. So, she participated in the Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in April 2024, and won three bouts back-to-back in the 50 kg category because she had no other option.
So, Vinesh Phogat, who has been competing and winning medals in the 53 kg category since 2019 and whose natural weight is 57 kg, was forced to cut her weight to 50 kg. She managed to achieve this in just two months and even won, but the body needs time to adjust to a new weight. Since this weight was new to her body, there was no guarantee that she would be able to keep it that low, and this is exactly what happened on August 7 in Paris. Despite being a trained Olympian who has undergone weight-cut processes throughout her career, her body, for lack of a better word, failed her that day.
While we get distracted by trivial stories, we must not lose sight of the larger injustices at play.
This article was originally published on The Wire on August 15, 2024.
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