Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat returned to India from a heartbreaking Paris 2024 Olympics after she landed in New Delhi at the IGI airport on Saturday morning.
Vinesh Phogat returns, follow LIVE updates.
She wasn’t awarded a silver medal at the Olympic Games, after the ad hoc division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed her appeal for a joint-silver medal on Wednesday.
Here is a timeline of events that Vinesh has been embroiled in since her first bout at the Olympics:
August 6:
On the day of the weigh-in, when Vinesh stood on the scales, the numbers read 49.90. She had earned the right to fight.
Vinesh upset the top-seeded grappler in women’s 50kg wrestling, Japan’s Yui Susaki, to qualify for the quarterfinals. Susaki, a four-time World champion and the Olympic gold medallist from Tokyo, was unbeaten in the last 82 international fights.
Susaki led 0-2 against Vinesh, courtesy of passivity points. However, with 10 seconds remaining, the Indian found a way to get a scoring move and take a 3-2 victory by points. The score was tied at 2-2 but the Japanese lost another point for an unsuccessful challenge.
India’s Vinesh Phogat, left, celebrates after defeating Japan’s Yui Susaki in the round of 16 of the women’s freestyle 50kg wrestling match. | Photo Credit: AP
Later, she went on to defeat Oksana Livach of Ukraine to reach the Olympic semifinal for the first time before sealing a 5-0 win over Lopez Guzman of Cuba to enter the final.
Even as she had been winning, Vinesh’s nutritionist had been nervously monitoring her food and fluid intake.
She had a celebratory glass of juice in the morning right after she had first made weight – 300 grams. She had another couple of litres of fluid to rehydrate herself before her bout - another 2000 grams of body weight gained. A couple of light snacks throughout the day to keep her energy up meant 700 grams more.
By the time Vinesh was done with her day’s competition, she weighed 52.7 kg.
August 7:
As the hours rolled into the night, it was clear that something had gone very wrong. After weeks of dehydration, the human body, once it gets rehydrated, simply refuses to give up water. Even urination becomes impossible.
Vinesh didn’t sleep all through the night of August 6. She was on the treadmill for six hours and in the sauna for another three. She didn’t consume a bite of food or drink a drop of water. Every few hours, she stood on a weighing scale. The numbers were getting smaller but not fast enough. In desperation, her coaches trimmed the elastic in the bottom of her costume. They thought of chopping her hair and then did it.
But the scale didn’t budge.
After reaching the women’s 50kg final against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt on August 7, Vinesh was disqualified in the morning of her gold-medal bout for being a little over 100 grams during the weigh-in.
Vinesh appealed to the Court of Arbitration of Sport after her disqualification, to be reinstated for the gold medal bout at first, before altering the appeal and requesting a joint silver medal to be awarded to her.
The CAS interim ruling was to be delivered on August 8.
IOA President PT Usha and Chief Doctor for the Indian contingent, Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, issued a video statement detailing the efforts that went in trying to help Vinesh evade disqualification.
Indian Olympics Association (IOA) President PT Usha and Chief Medical Officer of the Indian Contingent Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala speak regarding Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Paris Olympics. | Photo Credit: PTI
August 8:
Vinesh announced her retirement from wrestling. Vinesh posted on her X account: “Mother, wrestling won against me, I lost. Forgive me as your dreams and my strength are broken. I do not have any more strength left in me. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will always be indebted to all of you. Forgive me.”
Joelle Monlouis, Estelle Ivanova, Habbine Estelle Kim and Charles Amson represented Vinesh and IOA during the filing of the application.
Meanwhile, Vinesh’s case gathered support worldwide. Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs from the USA spoke in favour of Vinesh, calling for her to be awarded silver.
The ad hoc hearing of CAS was to start on August 9 at 9:00 AM (Paris time).
August 9:
The IOA ramped up its legal efforts, roping in the former Solicitor General of India, Harish Salve, to represent Vinesh in the CAS hearing.
The CAS ad hoc division officially registered Vinesh’s application and the matter was referred to Australian Dr. Annabelle Bennett - the sole arbitrator - who held a hearing with the concerned parties.
August 10:
A legal counsel associated with the case told Sportstar that the time limit was extended until 6 p.m. (Paris time) on August 13. The CAS had first deferred the decision until 6 p.m. local time on August 10.
Later, it decided to move the time limit further. Both parties were given time until 6 p.m. (Paris time) on August 11 to present any additional documents before the Sole Arbitrator.
August 11:
Usha issued a statement defending Dr. Pardiwala, who she said had been subjected to harsh criticism ever since the controversy over Vinesh’s weight cut began to unfold. She said, “The responsibility of weight management of athletes in sport like wrestling, weightlifting, boxing and judo is that of each athlete and his or her coach and NOT that of the IOA-appointed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala and his team.”
August 13:
The verdict was deferred for the third time in a row. The verdict date was pushed to August 16 at 9:30 pm IST.
August 14:
CAS dismissed Vinesh’s appeal for a joint-silver medal on August 14 in an announcement that revealed the operational verdict. The details and discussions the case threw up were not revealed yet and would be at a later date.
August 16:
Vinesh shared a long statement on her social media handles where she thanked her team for the steadfast support in the run-up to and through the Paris Games. She also said that if circumstances had been different, she might have even considered sticking to the sport.
August 17:
Vinesh arrived in India after a taxing Paris Olympics campaign.
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