With every ounce and an extra 100gms of their being, most Indians have awarded Vinesh Phogat the gold, though the medal betrayed its yellow heart, being so tantalisingly within reach and yet, so far.
On a Wednesday of heartbreaking developments in Paris, Vinesh's dream run into the Olympic final and her quest for gold was cruelly cut short after she was disqualified for exceeding the weight requirement for the women's freestyle 50kg event. She was 100 grams in excess of the 50kg Olympic stipulation, resulting in an automatic disqualification on perhaps the biggest day of her sporting career.
She had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the finals on Tuesday night and the silver medal was practically in the bag and she was scheduled to face American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt in the summit bout on Wednesday evening. Vinesh's natural body weight is about 56-57kg and it is a massive effort for her to get down to 50kg. While in invitational tournaments. United World Wrestling (UWW) allows for a grace of up to 2kg, no such relaxation exists for showpieces like Olympics, the world championships and the Asian Championships.
The following is the sequence of events that unfolded since Tuesday night, mindboggling, to say the least.
Giant-killer Vinesh had slayed the reigning Olympic champion Yui Susaki in an epic first-round bout; she weighed 52.7kg after her semi-final victory, following which she didn't drink a drop of water or touch a morsel of food.
She was up all of Tuesday night, with her team having her take a sauna and this brought her weight down to 50.1kg. The real challenge was posed by the niggling extra 100 grams, as the time for weigh-in approached.
This story is from the August 08, 2024 edition of The Free Press Journal.
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This story is from the August 08, 2024 edition of The Free Press Journal.
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