India’s sporting fraternity continues to reel under the shock of the heartbreaking disqualification of wrestler Vinesh Phogat from the ongoing Olympics, after she couldn’t make the weight on the morning of the finals. She was supposed to take on USA’s Sarah Hilderbrandt in the finals on Wednesday, August 7. This has also stripped her off her confirmed silver medal, after it was found that she was above the permissible weight limit by 100 grams. .
This has raised several doubts among fans. How many times do wrestlers have to show weight? Didn’t she make weight already? Why is she not getting the confirmed Silver medal?
Here’s what the rules of the United World Wrestling say:
According to regulations, wrestlers are required to meet weight thresholds on two separate occasions: the morning of the preliminary rounds and the morning of the final round. On Tuesday morning, Vinesh successfully made weight, coming in within the allowed 50kg limit. However, after replenishing her energy following three intense matches, her weight likely increased throughout the day. To meet the weight requirement again, she needed to shed approximately 2 kgs overnight. As per reports, she was spotted wearing a sweat suit and engaging in last-minute weight-cutting efforts after her semifinal match, but unfortunately, she still exceeded the limit by a mere 100 grams at Wednesday this morning's weigh-in.
Also, according to Article 11 of the United World Wrestling's rule book, an athlete who doesn’t make the weight will be eliminated from the competition, even if it happens before the finals. "If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated of the competition and ranked last, without rank,” it says.
Thus, Vinesh will be losing out on her confirmed silver medal as well as she has been eliminated. And so, there will only be a gold medal and bronze medal given in the 50 kg division.
Now the other question is, would she have secured a Silver medal if she had withdrawn from the final citing injury? As per the rules, “for all the other type of injuries or diseases that happen after the first day of competition and out of competition, the concerned athlete will have to attend the second weigh-in otherwise he will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last, without rank”.
This means that even if Vinesh were to withdraw from the competition citing whatever reasons, she would still have to make the weight and only if it is within the permissible weight limit, would she get the silver. So in this case, withdrawing from the competition wouldn’t have secured her a medal as she would still be found weighing above the permissible limit.