‘We cut her hair, shortened clothes…’: Officials reveal ‘extreme’ night-long routine to reduce weight of Vinesh Phogat

Indian athlete Vinesh Phogat faced a stunning reversal of fortunes at the Olympics this week — coming close to a record-setting gold medal before being disqualified from the Paris Games. The ace wrestler had found herself around two kilograms over the weight limit on Tuesday and spent the entire night trying to reach the 50 kg mark. She was hospitalised for dehydration soon after the disqualification was announced.

“Overnight we went ahead with the weight cut procedure. Despite all efforts, we found Vinesh's weight was 100 grams over her 50kg weight category. We tried all possible drastic measures including cutting her hair and shortening her clothes. Despite this, we could not make that 50kg weight category,” recalled Dr Dinshaw Paudiwala — the Chief Medical Officer of the Indian contingent.

According to reports, the wrestler had exercised through the night while limiting her food and water intake — to the extent of not eating or drinking anything for over 12 hours. The coaches did not let Phogat sleep the entire night to increase her stress while she continued relentlessly skipping, jogging and cycling.

Drastic measures such as ‘attempting to draw out blood’ (as per a report by The Sportstar) were also attempted in a futile bid to meet the weight requirements. Phogat was eventually left in a weak and dehydrated by the entreme weight-culling measures. 

The disqualification has created a domino effect with the previously defeated Cuban athlete Yusneylis Guzman Lopez now in the final against American Sarah Hildebrandt. Susaki, who lost to Phogat, had earned a spot in the repechage against Livach, with one needing to earn a spot in a bronze medal match. The Phogat-Livach match has been elevated to one of the two bronze medal matches. The other bronze match will match China's Feng Ziqi and Dolgorjav — a pairing that was not impacted by Phogat's disqualification.

Phogat's disqualification created a domino effect

(With inputs from agencies)