Vinesh Phogat Bids Adieu to Wrestling

Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling today, 8 August 2024. She was disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024 for being overweight, missing out on the opportunity to win the Olympic gold medal. The news came as a shock to a whole country who was rooting for the wrestler at the games this year.

She wrote on X, “Maa, wrestling won the match, but I lost. I’m sorry. Your dream, my courage, is all broken. I don’t have any more strength than this now.

Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024

I will always be indebted to you all, sorry.”

The 29-year-old Indian wrestler was the first Indian woman to make it to the Olympic finals. She was found 100 gm above the ambit of 50kg which she was about to wrestle. During the weight check on the morning of the final, Vinesh was disqualified. She lost a confirmed gold medal, and the wrestler from Cuban, Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, whom she defeated in the semi-finals, entered the finals.

Vinesh has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that she should receive a silver medal after being disqualified. The decision is expected today.  

Personal Life 

Vinesh Phogat is from a small village called Charkhi Dadri in Haryana. She is a professional freestyle wrestler coached by her uncle, Mahavir Singh Phogat. She belongs to a wrestler’s family, taking ahead of the wrestler’s legacy. Daughter of Rajpal Phogat with her sister Priyanka Phogat and cousins Geeta Phogat, Ritu Phogat and Babita Kumari are all wrestlers. 

Wrestling Career 

Vinesh has been a multiple Commonwealth Games gold medalist, having won gold at the 2014, 2018, and 2022 Games. She is the first Indian woman wrestler to achieve gold at the Commonwealth and Asian Games after winning gold at the Asian Games in 2018. She has also won two bronze medals at the World Wrestling Championships, making her a winner. 

In 2016, she had to take a break during her quarterfinals after an ACL injury. But this time, she was disqualified due to being overweight by just 100 grams.

According to Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, the chief medical officer of the Indian contingent, Vinesh stayed awake the whole night to cut off her weight with her team. She even tried chopping off her hair, but the 100 grams remained. 

Vinesh was also involved in the protests against the former WFI chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh for allegedly sexually harassing female wrestlers along with Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik. 

Vinesh Phogat’s wrestling career concludes here, and she bids adieu to wrestling, but her legacy remains powerful and unshaken.