Explained: Could Vinesh Phogat have avoided weigh-in and gone home with silver medal?

Star wrestler Vinesh Phogat was all set to fight for gold in the Paris Olympics women’s 50kg final against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt on Wednesday. And the manner in which she had fought and won her bouts the previous day, she appeared a solid contender for a top-of-the-podium finish.

Vinesh, after all, had halted reigning Olympic champion Yui Susaki’s 82-match winning streak before defeating Oksana Livach and Yusneylys Guzman to become the first Indian female wrestler to qualify for an Olympic final. And had she defeated her American opponent in the final, not only would it have been the country’s third individual gold at the Olympics, it would have been a first for Indian wrestling.

Less than 24 hours, however, Vinesh’s dreams of standing on top of the podium and giving India one of its finest sporting moments of all time would collapse around her as she was disqualified from the women's 50kg event for being overweight by the barest of margins.

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While Vinesh had weighed 49.9 kg in her first weigh in and was subsequently given the green signal to compete in Tuesday’s Round of 16 bout against Susaki, the 29-year-old Haryanvi wrestler reportedly had gained a couple of kilograms of weight over the course of the day.

Vinesh’s natural weight reportedly is around the 56-57 kg mark, and it required a significant effort on her part as well as that of her support staff to cut her weight and ensure she stays within the 50kg limit. She was seen skipping right after her semi-final victory over Guzman that had confirmed at least a silver for her and sent the nation into a frenzy, and later added jogging and extreme measures such as starving, drawing out blood and cutting her hair.

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Vinesh, however, was found to be overweight by just 100 grams on Wednesday morning in Paris, dashing her dream of winning gold by the barest of margins.

But could Vinesh have avoided a weigh-in in the first place and gone home with a silver around her neck by calling in injured? Here’s what you need to know?

Could Vinesh Phogat have avoided a weigh-in on Wednesday?

In plain and simple terms — NO. There’s no way a wrestler can avoid the second weigh-in if he or she passed the weight check on the previous day and also won all of his/her bouts without any fitness issues.

According to the rules laid down by the United World Wrestling (UWW), if an athlete is injured during a bout after the first weigh-in, he or she will lose the match by injury and will subsequently be ranked on the basis of the points earned until the injury.

Only in that case will that wrestler not be required to undergo a second weight check.

However, if an injury or disease happens after the first day of competition and out of competition in that category, the athlete will have to attend the second weigh-in. If not, he or she will be eliminated from the competition and will be “ranked last, without rank” — as per the global body’s rules.

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In other words, there’s little Vinesh could have done to avoid her disqualification other than resort to drastic measures. She did go down that route, but ultimately fell short of realising her dream regardless.