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Vinesh Phogat, the first Indian woman to qualify for an Olympic wrestling final, appeared to announce her retirement from the sport in a heartbreaking statement.
In a social media post, Phogat said her spirit was broken after she was disqualified from the gold medal match of the women’s 50kg freestyle category.
“Mom, wrestling defeated me. I have lost. Please forgive me. Your dream, my spirit, it’s all shattered. I don’t have more strength than this now,” she said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024”
“I’ll forever be indebted to you. Please forgive me,” she added.
A cruel twist of fate
Phogat, a three-time Olympian who comes from a prominent Indian wrestling family, was set to face Team USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt in Wednesday’s final.
Her journey to the final had included one of the most stunning upsets of the Games so far when she beat reigning Olympic gold medalist Yui Susaki in a dramatic first-round bout.
Susaki, who was widely touted as the best pound-for-pound freestyle wrestler in the world, had never lost a fight at the senior level and did not even drop a point on her way to gold at the last Olympics in Tokyo.
Phogat came through with a late takedown to claim a 3-2 decision in their opening match before besting Ukraine’s Oksana Livach 7-5 and Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzmán López 5-0 on her march to the medal podium.
However, Phogat did not make the weight required to compete Wednesday morning, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said Tuesday.
Competition rules say wrestlers must stay in their weight category on both days of the tournament. After Phogat’s disqualification, only the gold and bronze medals were awarded in the event.
Before the disqualification, she had been guaranteed to come away from the Paris Olympics with either a gold or silver medal in a remarkable tale of overcoming adversity.
A story of perseverance
Phogat’s story is one of hope and perseverance. A little over a year ago, she was sleeping on the streets of New Delhi as part of an athlete-led protest demanding action on sexual harassment claims made against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and a powerful politician from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Dramatic images showed Phogat, her sister and fellow wrestler Sangeeta Phogat, and Sakshi Malik – who won bronze in 2016 in the 58 kg category – being dragged by officers. The wrestlers were detained but later released.
In June, Delhi police charged Singh with assault, stalking and sexual harassment. He has denied all allegations against him.
Before her disqualification, Phogat’s fellow wrestlers hailed her journey to the final as both a personal and collective triumph for India’s wrestling community who have long complained that authorities failed to take their allegations seriously.
“Vinesh Phogat is the lioness of India who won back-to-back matches today,” Bajrang Punia, who won bronze in Tokyo and was also a leading figure in the protests, wrote on X.
“This girl was kicked and crushed in her own country. This girl was dragged on the streets in her country. This girl is going to conquer the world but she lost to the system in this country.”
CNN’s Lex Harvey and Aishwarya S Iyer contributed to this report.
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