Heartbreak for Vinesh Phogat: Why cutting weight is hard and how the rules work | Paris Olympics 2024 News – Times of India

It was a tragic finish to an occasion that promised a lot. Some claimed a conspiracy, others noticed incompetence. Quickly these rumours unfold like hellfire on the hellhole previously generally known as Twitter. Because the previous adage goes: “A lie could make its manner midway world wide earlier than the reality can placed on its boots.” However Phogat’s story, her epochal effort to get match, the makes an attempt of her very more-than-competent employees to assist her minimize weight in time and the heartbreak that adopted, shouldn’t be besmirched, by social media conspiracy theorists. Yogeshwar Dutt summed it up greatest in his tweet when he requested of us to not do politics round Vinesh’s disqualification.

So close to but up to now

Phogat is from a sporting household that’s nearly wrestling royalty. Her uncle Mahaveer Phogat’s makes an attempt to show his ladies wrestling – rebelling towards the yoke of patriarchy – was immortalised on the silver display screen in Aamir Khan’s

Dangal

. When Mahaveer Phogat heard that his niece had been disqualified, he broke down. Phogat has usually been touted as probably the most proficient within the household, profitable a complete of 15 medals (5 Gold, 3 Silver and seven Bronze) within the World Championships, Asian Video games, Commonwealth Video games and Asian Championships.

Solely the Olympic medal eluded her, the place she nearly confronted a Karna-like destiny. In Rio 2016, she suffered an ACL harm in her left knee that was deemed profession ending. In Tokyo, 5 years later, she misplaced to Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya and had mentioned that she was “damaged”.
However in Paris, she was a distinct beast, taking place to 50kg, measuring each morsel and drop of water. Within the very first spherical she dispatched off Yuki Susaki of Japan 3-2, curbing her pure attacking intuition to shock her oppponent in the previous couple of seconds of the bout. When she received her semi-final bout, her coach wept, however Phogat didn’t blink. Even after victory, she was completely within the zone, assuring the media: “I’ll discuss to you tomorrow, not at present.”

Phogat’s Weight-cutting Woes

On Tuesday morning, earlier than her first bout she weighed 49.90kg, effectively beneath her 50kg weight restrict. In the middle of the day, her weight went again to 52.7kg as she replenished her physique after 3 bouts. Phogat’s regular weight is 57kg, however she had minimize it to compete within the 50kg class.
Phogat spent the whole evening roiling and toiling, refusing to, as Dylan Thomas wrote, to go quietly into the raging evening. Phogat stayed awake until daybreak, spending the evening skipping, biking, jogging and doing each little bit of cardio to trim down. She even sat within the sauna within the early hours of Wednesday morning however missed her mark by 100g. Dehydrated, she was taken to the Village’s polyclinic after her morning weigh-in.

Vinesh had three bouts on Tuesday, and to keep away from dehydration, she was given some water. Nevertheless, her post-participation weight elevated greater than anticipated. Her coach then initiated the same old weight-cutting process that has traditionally labored for her, assured it might be efficient. Regardless of these efforts, by the next morning, her weight was nonetheless 100 grams over the 50 kg class, resulting in her disqualification.
In a closing try to satisfy the load requirement, drastic measures have been taken, together with reducing her hair and shortening her clothes, however these have been unsuccessful. After her disqualification, as a precaution, Vinesh acquired intravenous fluids to forestall dehydration, and routine blood checks have been carried out to make sure her well being on the Village’s polyclinic.

Why is weight reducing laborious?

The dreaded weight minimize is thought to those that toil in MMA, wrestling, bodybuilding and different sports activities, a lot in order that Sakshi Malik – the primary Indian lady to win an Olympic medal in wrestling – as soon as joked that one deserved an award for simply the load minimize course of. The concept that Phogat was let down by her workforce is preposterous as social media customers usually tried to resolve whether or not Occam’s or Hanlon’s Razor was match for the event. Her coach Woller Akos is extremely thought to be is efficiency specialist Wayne Lombard. The concept that sofa potatoes, whose thought of reducing is a tea, would know extra is preposterous.

Wrestlers usually compete in classes decrease than their pure weight to realize a bonus by going through much less bodily sturdy opponents. The load-cut course of earlier than the morning weigh-in entails a managed discount in meals and water consumption, mixed with sweating through sauna and train.
Whereas this technique locations the wrestler in a lighter weight class, it additionally causes weak spot and power depletion, which will be detrimental to efficiency. To counteract this, most wrestlers devour restricted quantities of water and high-energy meals after the weigh-in to revive some power. Reducing is difficult as a result of it requires athletes to quickly lose a good portion of their physique mass, usually as much as 10%, in a brief interval earlier than a contest. This course of is especially troublesome for athletes who’re already lean with low physique fats. The ultimate 24 hours earlier than weigh-in are particularly gruelling as athletes try to shed the final grams via excessive dehydration, which impacts their bodily and psychological features.
The restoration course of after weigh-in is delicate, as rehydrating too shortly can result in nausea and poor efficiency. Moreover, the long-term well being dangers, together with kidney injury and hormonal imbalances, make weight reducing a harmful follow. Regardless of the ache and well being dangers, athletes endure this course of as a result of it’s essential to compete in particular weight classes, providing them a strategic benefit in competitions.
The precise consumption is tailor-made by a nutritionist for every athlete. For instance, Vinesh’s nutritionist decided that she sometimes consumes round 1.5 kg of meals and water all through the day to keep up power for her bouts. There’s additionally the potential of rebound weight achieve after the competitors.
Jordan Burroughs, an American gold medallist summed up the difficulty on X: “Wrestling wants MORE than six weight lessons! After three powerful matches towards world class opponents, no athlete ought to need to spend the evening getting ready for a Gold medal on this method. Absolute desperation from the Indian workforce making an attempt to get the final little bit of weight off of Vinesh to qualify for at present’s closing.”

How do the principles work?

Weigh-ins happen within the mornings for wrestlers competing. The match for every weight-class is contested over two-day span, so any wrestler that makes the finals or the repechage must make weight on each days

The final level makes it clear that even feigning an harm (that some social media customers steered may have assured a silver) is a no-go and Vinesh would’ve been disqualified if she didn’t seem within the weigh in.
The one exception is Article 56 that states: “For all the opposite sorts of accidents or ailments that occur after the primary day of competitors and out of competitors, the involved athlete must attend the second weigh-in in any other case he might be eradicated from the competitors and ranked final, with out rank.”
Phogat and Crew India tried their greatest however 100gm denied a proficient wrestler the last word shot at glory. After all, this isn’t the top, and there’s an opportunity that Phogat will once more make a comeback within the tournaments to come back however for now, her myriad followers will resonate with the favored Linkin Park tune that goes: “I attempted so laborious and bought up to now, however in the long run, it doesn’t even matter.” The French have an expression for it: “C’est la vie.” It merely interprets to: Such is life.