Disclaimer: Vinesh Phogat was later disqualified from the 2024 Paris Olympics after exceeding the weight limit by 100 grams on the morning of the 50-kg women’s gold medal match.
It was a quintessential David vs Goliath story. Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat found herself at the wrong end of the bargain, facing Yui Susaki, as the draws for the women’s freestyle 50 kg Round of 16 match were announced.
The Japanese was the reigning world champion, Tokyo Olympics gold medallist, and had been unbeaten in her international career with a spotless 82-0 record.
Nobody gave Vinesh a chance.
As it turned out, not only did the 29-year-old beat Susaki, but went on to make history by becoming the first Indian wrestler to have a shot at an individual wrestling gold.
As Vinesh lay splayed on the ground, tears rolling thick and fast, a host of memories came rushing back for me. It feels like it was just yesterday that I set out to interview the wrestler in an act of defiance and rebellion.
The first time I met Vinesh Phogat
A couple of years had flown by since I graduated from college. I was working as a sports journalist ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics. Buoyed by the promise of the young Indian female wrestlers, I pitched a story idea to my senior management, which required me to fly to the Indian city of Lucknow, where the Indian ‘medal hopefuls’ were camped, for a candid chat.
Denied but not defeated, I decided to bear the cost myself. That’s how I got my first credit card issued, which took care of my travel and bills as I had fruitful chats with some of India’s most promising young female wrestlers, not least a gleamy-eyed Vinesh Phogat.
“I spent my teenage years doing something unthinkable – wrestling boys because they were tough competitors. Girls were not strong enough to compete in my school. When I started wrestling, I was told that bringing home a medal from the Olympics can be the best thing that can happen to an athlete,” Vinesh told me in this interview ahead of the Rio Olympics.
The Rio heartbreak
The 21-year-old went on to have a heartbreak in Rio as a career-threatening knee injury picked up in the quarter final knocked her out of the competition. To see a world-class athlete, one that I had the honour of knowing, in extreme pain as she was stretched out of the arena, broke something inside me that day.
Coming from a family of decorated wrestlers, Vinesh had been earmarked for greatness from a young age. She started off strong with an Asian Games bronze and a Commonwealth Games gold in 2014, but her body gave way, at the biggest stage of them all.
As we progressed in our respective careers, I had the good fortune of interviewing her once again.
“It is tough for a sportsperson to make a successful comeback after surgery,” a teary-eyed Vinesh told me, not making an attempt to hide the mental turmoil she was going through.
“I had never faced an injury as serious as this, and I suddenly had a vacuum inside me thinking about my future. The feeling of who am I without my sport suddenly changed my identity. The thought of whether I can ever play again suddenly became unclear and questionable.”
Thankfully, Vinesh fought back after the Rio defeat and started picking up medals left, right and centre. As she continued to advance professionally, I watched on with anticipation.
Tokyo setback and the mental toll
In August 2021, she competed in the women’s 53 kg event at the Tokyo Olympics but could progress no further than the quarter-final, facing heavy backlash from the wrestling fraternity for the defeat.
Despite a hat-trick of gold medals at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games, 2018 Asian Games gold, and bronze at the 2019 and 2022 World Championship, Olympic glory continued to be elusive for the Indian wrestler.
Even if the world had turned her back on her, Vinesh would always have a fan in me. Having seen the blood, sweat and tears from close quarters, I continued to root for her. However, back home, the situation began to take a turn for the worse.
The Tokyo setback took a heavy toll on Vinesh mentally, and she took a break from the sport. At one point, she even considered quitting wrestling altogether. To make matters worse, the grappler was suspended by the Wrestling Federation of India on grounds of indiscipline.
Leading nation-wide protests
The biggest splash was yet to arrive. Last year, she was one of the three leading Indian wrestlers to stage months-long protests against the then Wrestling Federation of India President Brij Bhushan, accusing him of sexual harassment and intimidation.
Breakthroughs proved hard to come by against the political strongman. Ultimately though, the persistence bore fruit as a Delhi court framed charges of sexual harassment, intimidation and outraging the modesty of women against the former WFI President, while noting that he misused his position to exert control over the victims.
On the personal front, injuries continued to plague Vinesh Phogat. Another knee injury ruled her out of the Asian Games last year, while she had to pull out of the Budapest Ranking Series due to food poisoning and fever. Despite all the hardships, Phogat continued to crave for the ultimate prize, an Olympic medal.
Having endured a terribly painful ACL surgery, sliding down from 53 to the 50-kg weight category, and with an army of trolls waiting to take barbs at the slightest of missteps, Vinesh arrived for her third and, most likely, her last Olympic sojourn in Paris.
Driven by a bigger goal
It must have felt that the world was against her when she was handed a cruel draw – pitted against the world-beating wrestler Yui Sasaki. It is a tribute to her mental fortitude, that she continued to stay calm in the face of adversity, and pulled a rabbit out of the hat. It was a tactical masterclass from Phogat as she defended for 5 minutes and 45 seconds, not allowing even the two passivity points to affect her, and then pounced in the last 25 seconds to stun the Japanese.
The feat left me wondering about my first credit card and the circle of life.
In the next few hours, Vinesh went on to brush aside former Olympic bronze medallist Oksana Livach and Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman to secure an Olympic medal.
Amid the turbulence of the nationwide protests last year, Vinesh had said: “The only thing I have told Bajrang and Sakshi [both Olympic medalists] is that I will still fight. I will look him [Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh] in the eye and medal leke aaungi main, tu dekh [bring back a medal and show it to him].”
As she stands on the podium, with the richly deserved Olympic medal around her neck, not just the former WFI chief, but the entire world will look on in awe.
Image Source 1 and 6: Olympics.com | Image Source 5: HT/Sanjeev Verma
