The world had written off Vinesh Phogat before she stepped into the Paris Olympics round of 16, competing in a new weight class against top seed Yui Susaki, who had never been defeated in an international match until yesterday.
With Susaki leading by two points, the odds seemed stacked against Phogat. Yet, in a remarkable turn of events, the 29-year-old wrestler from Haryana managed to defy expectations, clinching victory in the last 10 seconds and leaving her opponent, Indian fans, and the entire wrestling fraternity stunned.
She stormed through the next two matches, overpowering her Ukrainian and Cuban opponents. By reaching the finals, she would have made history as the first Indian female wrestler to achieve this feat. Reaching the final would have also secured the first gold or silver medal for the Indian contingent at the Paris Olympics.
However, just as Vinesh Phogat seemed poised to make history after a challenging year, she has faced a major setback. Reports say she exceeded the permissible weight limit of 50 kg by 100 grams, bringing her dream Paris campaign to an end. The wrestler, who had moved down from 53 kg to 50 kg to compete in the Olympics, failed the weigh-in on the morning of her final bout, despite having recorded 49.9 kg the previous day.
Coming from the renowned Phogat family and following in the footsteps of her accomplished cousins, Geeta and Babita Phogat, Vinesh Phogat was also mentored by her uncle, Mahavir Phogat.
Despite being a former gold medalist at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, Phogat's Olympic journey has been fraught with misfortune. In her maiden 2016 Rio Olympics, she had to be taken out on a stretcher after she sustained a severe knee injury in the quarter finals against China’s Sun Yanan in the 48 kg category. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Phogat faced another setback and was unable to advance beyond the quarterfinals losing to Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya with a score of 3-9.
As Vinesh Phogat made her third Olympic appearance, she carried more than just the weight of her medal hopes. Last year, Phogat, alongside Sakshee Malikkh, became the face of the protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexually assaulting young female wrestlers during his tenure as president of the Wrestling Federation of India.
She was dragged through the streets of Delhi, spent nights sleeping on footpaths, and was even forced to give up her medals as her pleas for action against then BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh went unanswered.
As Vinesh Phogat prepared for the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, she faced another setback when she sustained a severe knee injury during a training session in August. The injury was a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and a partial tear of the lateral collateral ligament, which ultimately prevented her from participating in the Games. Over the following months, Phogat underwent a rigorous rehabilitation process, during which she had to re-learn how to walk and progress from basic exercises to full-scale training, all while enduring varying levels of pain and discomfort
As she prepared for the Paris Olympics, Vinesh Phogat encountered a new challenge: the Olympic quota for her weight category (53 kg) had already been claimed by her rival, Antim Panghal. Phogat had to choose between risking a challenge for that quota or shifting to the 50 kg category at the last minute, a decision fraught with its own risks due to the high stakes of competition.
As Phogat glimpsed at the light at the end of the tunnel, the risk materialised: she missed out on the finals after exceeding the 50 kg limit, despite reportedly spending the entire night working out without food or water. In a video statement, Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, the head of her medical team, said, “we found that her post-participation weight was increased more than normal… in the morning we found despite all of our efforts her weight was a 100 gm over her 50 kg weight category and hence she was disqualified. We tried all possible drastic measures throughout the night including cutting off her hair, shortening her clothes, despite all of this we could not make the 50 kg weight category.”
Vinesh Phogat has faced numerous challenges from a young age, including the loss of her father when she was just nine. Despite societal expectations and traditional norms, she trained relentlessly and emerged as one of the top wrestlers, not only among the Phogat family but within the global wrestling community.
Known for her resilience and ability to rebound from adversity, she has consistently shown strength in both her sports career and personal life, and has been a vocal advocate for what she considers right.
