 "Vinesh Phogat loses silver medal appeal: Sad end to a sad saga, but don’t forget her fight")
The hopes for a medal for Vinesh Phogat, which had hung by a thread for so long, were dismantled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Wednesday night after a series of deadlines and delays. The delays raised hope, but given CAS’s track record, the outcome was predictable even before the wrestler’s appeal was made.
The United World Wrestling (UWW) rules are crystal clear regarding the weigh-in. So clear that it didn’t take long for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) head Thomas Bach to declare that a second silver medal in the women’s 50kg freestyle wrestling event at the Paris Olympics 2024 was going to be impossible even if the disqualification was a result of being overweight by just 100 grams , something as light as just two bananas.
Yet we hoped. Vinesh’s fight at Paris 2024 was daring, defiant, and uplifting, and whether we admit it or not, a part of all of us wanted her to win that medal.
With Antim Panghal’s ascendancy in the 53kg category, Vinesh was forced to drop down from her pet event to the 50kg class, but she didn’t let that hinder her Olympic dream.
By the looks of it, the change in weight category wasn’t going to stop her when she had already successfully fought a knee injury and an inspiring battle against seemingly all-powerful former BJP MP and ex-Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been accused of sexual harassment by female wrestlers.
When sleeping on pavements and violent mishandling by police couldn’t stop her, a change in weight category wasn’t going to be enough.
माना पदक छीना गया तुम्हारा इस अंधकार में,
— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) August 14, 2024
हीरे की तरह चमक रही हो आज पूरे संसार में।
विश्व विजेता हिंदुस्तान की आन बान शान
रूस्तम ए हिंद विनेश फौगाट आप देश के कोहिनूर हैं।
पूरे विश्व में विनेश फौगाट विनेश फौगाट हो रही हैं।
जिनको मैडल चाहिए। खरीद लेना 15-15 रू में pic.twitter.com/8P1TwEiTiZ
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAmid all this, she qualified for the Paris Olympics, becoming the first female wrestler from India to qualify for three Summer Games.
At the Olympics, she raised her game even further.
Up against the Olympic champion and current World No. 1 wrestler Yui Susaki in her very first match, even Phogat’s biggest supporters might not have given her much of a chance. Yet she fought like a wrestler possessed, with only the gold medal in her sight.
Susaki, who had never lost a match at the international level after a staggering 82 bouts, lost 3-2 despite being 2-0 with seconds remaining. The probability of Vinesh having her hand raised by the end was minuscule, but she won as she had throughout her career.
As Allama Iqbal’s poem goes: ‘Khudi ko kar buland itna ke har taqdeer se pehle, Khuda bande se khud pooche bata teri raza kya hai’ (‘Elevate yourself so high that even God, before issuing every decree of destiny, should ask you: Tell me, what is your intent?’).
Those words were realised when Phogat defied the seemingly insurmountable odds against Susaki.
Still can't get over that comeback & celebration! 🙌🏻🤩
— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) August 12, 2024
Vinesh Phogat's victory over World no.1 Yui Susaki was the biggest turnaround of #Paris2024 🔥#OlympicsOnJioCinema #OlympicsOnSports18 #JioCinemaSports #Cheer4Bharat pic.twitter.com/Hqq60ird7g
The next two wins were relatively straightforward as Vinesh became the first Indian female wrestler to reach an Olympic final .
The untameable Vinesh, however, was eventually broken - not by USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt in the final, but by the cruelest of fates. She was 100 grams above the permissible weight limit during her second weigh-in and before her first Olympic gold medal match, despite exercising through the night without sufficient water, cutting her hair, and even attempting to draw out blood.
The excruciating pain of losing a medal in such a brutal manner is unimaginable, and that punishment proved too much for Vinesh, leading her to announce her retirement .
“Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is broken. I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I shall be indebted to you all. Forgive (me),” Vinesh wrote on X announcing her retirement.
Vinesh will return to India on September 17th. She extended her stay in Paris until the 16th, hoping the medal would be hers, but now she is left to pick up the pieces.
While the silver medal (or gold) has eluded her, it is our duty not to forget her indomitable fight. Vinesh Phogat hasn’t won a medal, but she is no less than a medallist.
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