India's Vinesh Phogat announces retirement after Olympics heartbreak
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has announced her retirement from the sport, a day after she was disqualified for failing the weigh-in at the Olympic Games.
The 29-year-old was set to face the US's Sarah Hildebrandt in the finals for the 50kg freestyle category on Wednesday.
A win would have made her the first female athlete from India to win an Olympic gold medal in any event.
But on the morning of the contest, Phogat weighed in a few grams above the 50kg limit and was removed from the draw.
In a heartfelt post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, the wrestler said she no longer had the strength to carry on.
"Wrestling won and I lost. My dreams are shattered," she wrote.
"Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will always be indebted to you all. I am sorry."
A three-time Olympian, Phogat has won three Commonwealth Games golds, two World Championships bronze medals and one Asian Games gold medal.
In 2021, she was also crowned the Asian Champion.
Earlier this week, she became the first female Indian wrestler to reach an Olympic final - a feat which would have guaranteed her at least a silver medal if it wasn't for her disqualification. Sakshi Malik, the only other female wrestler to win an Olympic medal for India, had clinched a bronze at Rio 2016.
Phogat's performance also included one of the biggest upsets at the Games so far, after she beat reigning world champion Yui Susaki from Japan to progress to the quarter-finals.
"Vinesh Phogat is India's biggest, bravest, boldest Olympian. We are lucky to have her," wrote sports writer Sharda Ugra in ESPN after she defeated Susaki.
Phogat had reportedly starved herself for a week and spent hours in the sauna to cut weight for the contest. In the previous two Olympics, she had competed in the 53kg category. This was her first outing in the 50kg category - and the wrestler reportedly struggled to meet the weight requirement during her Olympic qualifiers as well.
Phogat has appealed against her disqualification from the Olympic finals to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), seeking to be awarded a joint silver medal.
This is not the first time Phogat has suffered a setback at the Olympic Games.
At Rio 2016, she had been a favourite for the medal until she dislocated her right knee midway through the quarter-final bout. Pictures of her stretched on the mat and writhing in pain had broken hearts in India.
After Tokyo 2021, the wrestler said she went into near depression amid unfair criticism for her performance after she was knocked out in the second round of the contest.
"I was alone... Everyone outside is treating me like I am a dead thing," she had written in an editorial in the Indian Express newspaper months after the game.
"I don’t know when I will return," she had said.
"Maybe I won’t. I feel I was better off with that broken leg [at Rio 2016]. I had something to correct. Now my body is not broken, but I’m truly broken.”
She did return - "one more shot," as she called it - and went on to win a bronze at the World Championships in 2022.
Phogat, who belongs to a family of international female wrestlers, is also a vocal critic of the sexist attitudes towards women in sports.
Last year, she became the face of a months-long protest by wrestlers against their federation chief Brij Bhushan Singh who was accused of sexually harassing female athletes - a charge he denies.
The row made headlines globally, especially after the police detained Phogat and other wrestlers during a demonstration.
Dramatic images showing her being dragged by officers and being loaded in a police van had caused international outrage.
In 2021, she told BBC Sport how she faced sexist remarks growing up and overcame gender stereotypes to forge a successful career as a professional athlete.
On Thursday, fans said Phogat might be done with wrestling but her legacy and contribution to the sport would live on forever.
Meanwhile, India's run at the Paris Olympics faced another setback after wrestler Antim Panghal was charged with violating disciplinary rules, after she tried to "smuggle" her sister into the Olympic Games Village.
Her sister reportedly used Antim's accreditation to enter the premises but was detained by the police.
Panghal and her entire contingent will now be deported from Paris.
BBC
