The legend of Vinesh Phogat

There are days that go by without notice, days that leave no marks of their passing behind and are just another step in the passing of time. And then there are days that leave a huge mark on our collective consciousness that it is almost impossible to forget them.

Wednesday was one such day.

When the sun rose a billion people in India started their day as usual. But a section were waiting with bated breath for an event to unfold in a far off land where a woman, against all odds, was about to claim her place as God among equals.

Vinesh Phogat, a wrestler who has had a very rough last year, was set take part in the finals of the Women's 50kg wrestling bout (a weight category that was 3kg below her usual norm) for a shot at Gold Medal.

A win in this bout would have catapulted her to the status of the greatest athlete in the history of Indian Wrestling. The stage was set. And then, like it happens in life many a time, the stage came crashing down.

Sometime around noon, the news started trickling in that Vinesh Phogat had been disqualified from the final for being a mere 100 gms overweight.

As with any news of such proportion, the first reaction was one of disbelief.

How can things have changed so suddenly?

How does this mundane life which gives so few opportunities to feel alive be so quick to take away such a great moment from so many of us and that too so quickly?

The messenger of bad news today was someone named Mihir.

And no sooner did the news emerge, than the political machinery began moving the needle.

Vinesh has spent the better part of the last two years taking a stand against the political powers in her own country. She was part of a widely talked about protest against the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and its President, Brij Bhushan.

During the protests, she was dragged around on the streets of the nation's capital. They were demanding the removal of the President of WFI for sexual abuse and intimidation.

That story is still unfolding without any concrete conclusions in sight.

Vinesh had to face a lot of flak for taking a stand against authority. For a while, her protest was also termed as a move driven by an agenda to resurrect her fledgling career by gaining access to tournaments without going through qualification events.

As public opinions go, she was taken through mud and then some. There were as many opinions as people.

But I am not writing this to talk about inconsequential things.

What is an athlete who doesn't compete? I guess this is the question that brought her back from the streets and back on the wrestling mat.

Or maybe it was her desire to show everyone what she is made of. Or maybe she simply needed a pedestal to stand up on as no one was listening to the lady on the streets.

We don't quite know. But we do know that she did get back to work.

After coming back she missed out on Asian Games due to a knee injury. Then, she sought Olympic qualification in two different weight categories and finally qualified in the 50kg category.

The deck of cards that will eventually laid out. Going in with a lower weight category meant a constant battle with her own body.

She progressed through the Olympics like a woman on a mission but nobody believed that she could reach the summit.

The first reverberations of what she had in mind came when she beat four-time world champion and reigning gold-medalist Yui Susaki of Japan.

The Japanese was unbeaten for the last 82 bouts, an athlete made of steel.

After the initial disbelief, whispers of what she might do when she eventually reached the podium started floating around.

An Olympian with an illustrious life who took a stand on the streets of Delhi and lost had made a comeback on the mat, on the grandest stage in the world.

These things happen in movies and not in real life. And so, the whispers grew louder.

Thereafter, Vinesh won two more bouts to set the stage for a final showdown, a chance to go into history books as the greatest women wrestler from India. A chance to have her say.

But it just wasn't to be.

And even before the shattering sound of the news of her disqualification could subside, first reactions emerged from the same quarter that had endured her opposition on the streets of Delhi.

People will talk, and that is their job.

There will be conspiracy theories about what happened. But the fact remains.

A woman who grappled to get her voice out took a stand by fighting in a different weight category and lost right just before she could reach the pinnacle.

News cycles will tell us what happened and how they happened.

People will find someone to blame. And they will haggle over who to blame.

Regardless of what will be said and written, this story will live on. The story of a woman who fought for what was right and did everything in her power to bring glory and respect to her country, in every way she could.

And this saga will forever be termed 'the legend of Vinesh Phogat.'