UNPHOGATTABLE AGONY

Rohit Mahajan in Paris

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Vinesh Phogat, icon of Indian wrestling, the face of the resistance against excesses of sports officials, won’t return from Paris with the medal she so richly deserved.

Shortly after 8.30 am on Wednesday, Vinesh Phogat received possibly the most heartbreaking news of her life — guaranteed at least a silver medal after her three breathtaking wins yesterday, Vinesh was disqualified from the 50kg freestyle field.

Editorial: Winner Vinesh

There would be no gold for Vinesh — there would be no medal at all, for she was chucked out, barred, her name scratched from the 50kg final against Susan Hilderbrandt of the US. After winning three bouts yesterday — including the shock win over world and Olympics 50kg champion Yui Susaki of Japan — the 29-year-old was seen skipping rope with great energy. Vinesh had weighed in at under 50kg yesterday, but added close to 2kg through the day — and was trying to lose weight at the wrestling venue, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, glittering in the night as if shedding stardust.

Vinesh then went in, desperate to shed weight, and practised on the training mats until close to midnight, according to national coach Virender Singh Dahiya; she left for the Games Village around 11.30 with her team — her physio, strength and conditioning coach, personal coach Woller Akos and practice partner. “We don’t know what happened in the morning. Her weight was fluctuating between extra 100 gm and 125 gm,” said Dahiya.

Desperate to lose weight, Vinesh tried everything —sauna, treadmill, skipping, running. It didn’t help. To shed a few more grams, she got a haircut. A wrestler gets 15 minutes on Day 2 to make the weight cut — Vinesh tried everything but was 100 gm too heavy at the end of 15 minutes. Hungry, thirsty, dehydrated, desperate, Vinesh was devastated.

“She lost so much liquid that she stopped sweating,” said a source aware of how the horror unfolded through the night and the morning today. “She was disconsolate and her tears didn’t stop flowing.”

The ordeal was to get worse: After 24 hours of strenuous efforts, and emotional highs and lows, Vinesh was completely dehydrated and was taken to the medical centre at the Games Village.

Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, the head of the medical team, said: “As a precautionary measure, Vinesh was administered IV fluids (through a drip) to prevent dehydration. All of Vinesh’s parameters were normal throughout this process, and she feels perfectly well.” Perfectly destroyed in the mind, however. According to coach Dahiya, Vinesh was distraught, crying without a pause.

Vinesh’s suspension sent a shock through the wrestling community — almost as strong a shock Vinesh caused yesterday by beating the invincible Susaki, the defending champion.

Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, beaten by Vinesh in the semifinals, could not believe her luck — she was elevated to the final. Vinesh’s tragedy drew out kindness and sympathy from the wrestling community. Susan Hilderbrandt, the Greece coach, sorry for Vinesh, said it’s tougher for women to lose weight. “I’ve tried to cut 5-7 kg in a day, using the sauna suits and saunas, cutting out a lot of water, so I can understand what Vinesh went through,” Mia Lahnee Ramos Aquino of Guam, having lost her 53kg bout, said. “And as a woman, I have to say that due to menstruation or hormonal issues, we tend to get heavier, hold water more... So I think maybe, some allowance — a kilogram, a few hundred grams — should be made for women.”

No way, said Nenad Lalovic, president of United World Wrestling, the sport’s governing body. “I’m so sad what happened to her. She was overweight, even though by a small margin. But rules are rules,” said Lalovic. “I don’t see what can be done. We have to respect the rules. Sport is based on rules. If we go off the rules, we have anarchy.”

Lalovic, in fact, said that the rules should be more strict —because wrestlers are losing too much weight to compete in lower weight categories, and this could harm their health in the long term. “We want athletes to compete in their natural weight. The wrestlers are losing too much weight and it’s not good for their health.”

For Vinesh’s Olympics dreams, all that is now irrelevant — she’d be close to 34 at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Perhaps she’d care to focus more on an even higher pursuit — safety of women in sports.

No escape from rules: Wrestling body

Nenad Lalovic, president of United World Wrestling, said, “I am so sad what happened to her (Vinesh). She was overweight, even though by a small margin. But rules are rules. I don’t see what can be done. If we go off the rules, we have anarchy.”

It’s hard luck... we missed the medal, but it’s part of the game. — Vinesh Phogat