Indian wrestler, Vinesh Phogat, competed in the 50 kg weight category in women’s wrestling in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Before appearing in the semi-finals, she weighed less than 50 kg. Gaining weight overnight, Phogat fought her way through the semi-finals to secure her place in the final. Media coverage circled her constant efforts to lose weight before the final, however, Phogat missed the match due to weighing only 100 grams over her weight category.
Following the news of Phogat’s disqualification, not only did Indian fans fall disappointed, but fellow athletes also expressed deep concerns about the sentiment and fairness of the controversy. Japanese gold medalist Rei Higuchi supported Vinesh by explaining how he was disqualified for being 50 grams overweight — his story seeming similar to that of the Indian wrestler in question.
#SilverForVinesh has since been trending on social media as athlete, Jordan Burroughs, demanded a silver medal for Vinesh Phogat on his X post. Supporting his counterpart, Burroughs asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to award him a monetary medal is extremely commendable and worthy of being thanked.
Disqualifying Vinesh immediately after winning the semi-finals, without even allowing her to compete in the finals, has been perceived as unfair by communities of Olympic audiences supporting her. Moreover, disregarding the sportsmanlike work and effort put in by the athlete. The IOC’s concern about not allowing her to compete in the final is somewhat acceptable, but completely removing her from the match was indeed a harsh and hasty decision.
Vinesh appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which was initially supposed to deliver the verdict on Vinesh’s joint silver medal on August 9. However, on August 13, 2024, the court extended the deadline for its decision under Article 18 of the CAS Rules of Arbitration for the third time and is now expected to deliver its verdict on August 16, 2024.
Have Olympics become a joke nowadays? Has the word ‘Justice’ lost its real meaning and all it is now is a mere abstract idea decorated in political writings?
Some might say that even the existence of these kinds of extremely harsh rules, which disqualify athletes based on minimal differences, is unnecessary, which is partly true. But for now, the least we can expect from the verdict is a decision to award Vinesh Phogat an overall silver medal, which she certainly deserves.
