Olympics 2024: Vinesh Phogat retires from wrestling

A day after being disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024, a heartbroken and shattered Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling.

“Mother, wrestling won the match against me, I lost," Vinesh wrote on X on Thursday morning.

"Forgive me, your dream, my courage is all broken, I don't have any more strength now. Goodbye Wrestling 2001-2024," Vinesh wrote further.

Vinesh, 29, was on the cusp of golden glory after her magnificent performances on Tuesday. But she was disqualified on Wednesday morning, the day her gold medal match was scheduled to be played against Sarah Ann Hildebrandt of the USA.

Vinesh was disqualified from the 50kg category for weighing 100 grams more at the time of weigh-in on Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, Vinesh became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the Olympics. She also assured herself of at least a silver medal.

Sakshi Malik, the only other Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal, had clinched a bronze medal at Rio 2016. No Indian wrestler had won a gold medal.

Vinesh had looked forward to scripting a new chapter for Indian wrestling by surpassing Sushil Kumar's silver medal-winning performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Sushil's silver is the highest feat attained by an Indian wrestler at the Olympics to date.

Vinesh's decision to retire came after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) challenged her disqualification at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) late on Wednesday night.

Before her disqualification, Vinesh took every possible measure to cut down her weight but was unable to shed the excess weight overnight to make the desired cut on Wednesday morning.

"This weight cut causes weakness and energy depletion, which is counter-productive to participation, and hence for energy restoration, limited water and high energy foods are given after weigh in," said Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, the chief medical officer of the Indian contingent, in a release issued by Indian Olympic Association (IOA)

"Vinesh's nutritunist had calculated this to be a 1.5kg. There sometimes is also a rebound weight gain following competition," he added.

Vinesh's nutritionist and coach ran a sauna to induce sweat and trigger loss of bodily water. Finally, her weight came down to 50.1.

But there was no time left to cut down the remaining 100 grams, leading to her disqualification.

"All possible drastic measures, including cutting off her hair, were used. However, she was not below her allowed weight of 50kg," added Pardiwala.

Vinesh was later admitted to the Games Village Polyclinic for treatment.

"As a precautionary measure, she was administered IV fluids following disqualification to prevent dehydration," he said.

Illustrious wrestler

Vinesh was an illustrious wrestler.

Vinesh is a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and two-time World Championships bronze medallist. She also won an Asian Games gold in 2018 and a bronze in 2014.

In 2014, Vinesh, the three-time Olympian, became the Asian Championships gold medallist in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Vinesh hails from Haryana's famous Phogat wrestling family. Her cousins, Geeta, Sangeeta and Babita are also wrestlers.

The last 18 months have been topsy-turvy for Vinesh. She January 2023 to early 2024, she was involved in the wrestlers' protest in New Delhi against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Brij Bhushan was accused of sexually exploiting woman wrestlers.

Vinesh made a comeback to the mat in February breaking her 16-month hiatus when she won a gold medal in the 55kg category at the National Championships.

But with Antim Panghal booking her spot in the 53kg category and further court proceedings followed on the quota place, Vinesh shifted to the 50kg category.

She had qualified for the Paris Olympics reaching the final at the Asian Olympic qualifier. She beat Laura Ganikyzy in the semifinal.