Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat was set to lock horns with American Sarah Hildebrandt for the 50kg women’s freestyle gold at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday evening.
But on Tuesday night she was found 2kg overweight.
The 29-year-old and her team were determined to win the title and started working out the whole night to reduce her weight.
She starved, did skipping, cycling and jogging and spent time in a sauna in a bid to shed the extra kilos.
But she was caught short on Wednesday morning. During the mandatory weigh-in, she was found 100g in excess.
The Indian gold-medal hopeful was subsequently disqualified.
After officials turned a deaf ear to her pleas for reinstatement, Phogat announced her retirement on Wednesday.
She even lodged a protest at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, challenging her disqualification.
In a social media post later in the day, she said wrestling won the final bout against her, breaking all her courage.
Having made her professional debut in 2001, it was the end to her career as a wrestler. “I don’t have any more strength now,” she wrote. “Goodbye Wrestling 2001-2024. I will forever be in your debt.”
Her disqualification broke over a billion hearts, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also taking to social media to give his support. He called Phogat “a champion among champions” and urged her to “come back stronger”.
“Today’s setback hurts,” he said on X. “At the same time... you epitomise resilience. It has always been your nature to take challenges head-on. We are rooting for you.”
Others from the Indian sporting fraternity also rallied behind Phogat and asked her to focus on the 2028 Los Angeles Games in her pursuit of a wrestling gold at the Olympics. However, Phogat felt she doesn’t have what it takes to continue any more.
Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman Lopez replaced Phogat in the final, which Hildebrandt won 3-0 to take the gold.
Many in India blamed Phogat’s personal coach and dietician for her plight.
Her uncle Mahavir Singh Phogat, who trained her early in her career, said the coaches should have managed her diet better and added that shaving her head might have reduced her weight.
Speaking to the media at his village Balali in Haryana, Mahavir, whose story inspired the box-office hit Dangal, said: “If I were with Vinesh, I would have advised her to shave her head, as cutting her hair would have reduced her weight by at least 200g. Unfortunately, this idea did not occur to Vinesh’s coach, and they did not communicate with me to resolve this issue.”
Frustrated by the disqualification, Mahavir added: “Rules are there, but if a wrestler is 50-100g overweight, they are usually allowed to compete. But it’s gone now.”
Wrestling Federation of India president Sanjay Singh also questioned how a mistake of such magnitude could be made on such a big stage.
“The player is fully focused on her practice; it would be unfair to blame her for this. Why is the support staff sent with the athlete (to the Games)? Have they gone there for tourism?” Mr Singh said.
However, former Indian badminton star and 2012 London Olympics bronze-medal winner Saina Nehwal felt Phogat should carry equal blame for her disqualification
“It is not like she is competing in her first Olympics, it’s her third Olympics,” said Nehwal. “As an athlete, she must know the rules. At such a big stage, I have not heard of any other wrestler disqualified due to being overweight.”
