Olympic Games in Paris: Indian wrestler disqualified from gold medal match in women’s 50 kg basketball due to missing weight information
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When an athlete competes for the gold medal at the Olympics, a silver medal is usually considered the lucky worst case scenario. But for India’s Vinesh Phogat, things got much worse.
Phogat, who beat Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzmán 5-0 in the semifinals on Tuesday, was eliminated from the women’s 50 kg wrestling tournament on Thursday morning when she failed the second weigh-in, the Olympic organization said. Phogat was due to face Sarah Hildebrandt of the US team for gold on Wednesday. It would have been the first time an Indian woman has competed in an Olympic wrestling final.
Not only will the extra weight cost Phogat the first wrestling gold medal in India’s history, United World Wrestling rules state that a wrestler who fails to make weight at the second weigh-in is eliminated from the tournament and effectively ends up in last place unless someone has to withdraw on the first day of competition.
So Phogat will leave Paris without a medal. You can see the official Olympic standings here, with Phogat’s name crossed out.
Vinesh Phogat hospitalized after brutal weight loss
Missing out on an Olympic medal is bad enough, but the Indian delegation’s efforts to get Phogat underweight were reportedly brutal.
According to the Indian sports star, Phogat was not allowed to eat or drink the night before the match. Her staff ended up having to cut her hair and drain her blood. Even after this horrific procedure, they could not give her the last 100 grams she needed:
“Her normal weight is 57 kg and she has done everything to get to 50. Yesterday morning she weighed 49.9 kg, but as soon as she ate even a small meal her weight went back up to at least 53 kg. She had to get to that weight to have the strength to last three fights,” a member of her camp told Sportstar.
“After the semi-final last night, she weighed 52.7 kg. She didn’t sleep a minute, didn’t drink a sip of water, and didn’t eat a bite. She was running and in the sauna all night. She made it to 50.1 kg, but didn’t have time to lose the last 100 grams. There was no wiggle room and no extra time to gain weight,” the member added.
According to India Today, Phogat fainted due to dehydration after the unsuccessful weigh-in and had to be hospitalized.
Sarah Hildebrandt of the US team will not automatically win gold
Hildebrandt will not automatically win gold, however. Instead, she will face the woman who defeated Phogat in the semifinals: Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzmán.
Guzmán was originally scheduled to face the winner of a repechage in a bronze medal match, but that repechage between Japan’s Susaki Yui and Ukraine’s Oksana Livach, both of whom were also defeated by Phogat, will instead become one of the two bronze medal matches.
Olympic wrestling tournaments typically feature two repechages, with the winners facing the losers in the semifinals for the bronze medal. Combat sports are unique in that they feature multiple bronze medals, rather than a true bronze medal match.
Hildebrandt, seeded sixth in the tournament, won bronze at the Tokyo event and is a four-time medalist at world championships, albeit without gold.
