At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Vinesh was disqualified 100 grams over the weight restriction, which prevented her from competing for a medal.
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat received a tonne of accolades from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her remarkable performance at the Olympics in Paris and for becoming the first female grappler from India to go to the final. On Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a meeting and reception for Indian athletes and gold winners from the just finished Paris Olympics at his residence located at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg in the capital city. PM Modi mentioned Vinesh’s accomplishment and remarked, “Vinesh became the first Indian (women) to reach the finals in wrestling, which is a matter of great pride for all of us,” while speaking with the Indian delegation to the Olympics in Paris.
After being weighed “few grams over” the allowed limits on the morning of the final match, Vinesh’s historic achievement took a severe hit when she was disqualified from the women’s 50 kg gold medal contest at the Paris Olympics.
Vinesh announced her decision to withdraw from wrestling on social media after experiencing a tremendous heartbreak at the large sporting venue.
With three gold medals from the Commonwealth Games, two bronze medals from the World Championships, and one gold medal from the Asian Games, the wrestler from Haryana has it all. In 2021, she also won the title of Asian champion.
But she filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) to overturn her Olympic disqualification, and she sought a shared silver medal in the 50 kg weight class.
Yet Vinesh’s hopes of winning her first Olympic medal were dashed when the Ad-Hoc Division of the CAS rejected her appeal against her disqualification.
In 16 different sports, including archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, wrestling, table tennis, and tennis, 117 Indian athletes competed in the Paris Games.
At the Olympics in Paris, India won six medals—one silver and five bronze. While expectations were high for a historic performance, the nation just missed out on breaking its own record at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where they finished 48th with seven medals (1 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze).
