A gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 weighs 529 grams, a silver 525 grams. Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, scheduled to fight to bring those 529 grams of golden glory to the country on Wednesday night—and assured of a silver—was altogether disqualified from the competition.

Phogat was 100 grams—roughly a fifth of how much the medals weigh—over the permissible limit of 50 kg, which is the weight category she was competing in at this year’s Olympics. Let that sink in.

For the Haryana wrestler, who fought a reigning Olympic 50-kg champion a day ago, has battled several defeats over the years and came in for mistreatment during protests demanding removal of India’s wrestling federation chief, the disqualification is bound to weigh heavy for a while. Phogat, according to some reports, was hospitalized for dehydration from desperate last-minute attempts to “cut weight”.

The three-time Commonwealth Games champion qualified for the finals after winning three bouts on Tuesday. She defeated reigning Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan, moving on to win against Oksana Livach of Ukraine in the quarter-finals. In the semi-final, she defeated Cuban Yusneylis Guzman, pushing Indians to celebrate en masse as they were assured of a silver medal at the very least. Late on Wednesday, India time, Phogat was supposed to take on the US’s Sarah Hildebrandt. However, that very morning, things took a drastic turn. So, what do the Olympic wrestling rules say and why is “cutting weight” hard for athletes competing in such sports?

Before we get to the weight bit, let’s understand a little bit about the sport.

Olympic wrestling: There are two major wrestling disciplines: old-school, or Greco-Roman, wrestling and the more modern freestyle wrestling. In the former, participants can only use their upper body to attack, that too only above the waist. In freestyle wrestling, competitors can use their legs and attack opponents below the waist.

Phogat competes in the freestyle category. Here, wrestlers fight each other in a combat area for two 3-minute periods—called a bout. In both styles though, the aim is to secure a fall—pinning down down the opponent’s shoulders on the mat. But winning by a fall is often rare. The other way to secure a victory is by points. Points are awarded on the basis of activity, technique, difficulty of moves and manoeuvres.

Phogat’s Tuesday victory against her Japanese counterpart was much lauded because she showcased great skill in taking down a champion with a spotless record. At the same time, protecting her limbs and knees—crucial for the wrestler who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear during her maiden Olympic competition in 2016 at Rio, which nearly threatened to end her career.

Now, coming to the rules about making the weight.

What do the rules say? Before the Paris Olympics 2024, Phogat competed in the 53-kg weight category in Tokyo 2021 and in the Commonwealth Games 2022. In Rio 2016, she competed in the 48-kg weight category—the lowest. Note that in 2017, the United World Wrestling (UWW), which formulates regulations for the sport across the world, raised the minimum weight for women’s freestyle category to 50 kg from the earlier 48. Now, there are six categories in women’s freestyle wrestling in the Olympics—50, 53, 57, 62, 68 and 76 kg.

A 100 grams above 50 kg might not seem like much and it’s not, but in the wrestling world it can make or break qualifications.

Under UWW’s rules for competitions, a contestant is only allowed to compete in one weight category—the one corresponding to their weight at the time of the official weigh-in. “Each weight category begins and ends in a day,” and the weigh-in must take place on the same day before the matches for that category are scheduled.

Contestants are weighed—on the first day of qualifiers and the second day of repechages and finals—with only their singlet, after being examined by physicians.

“Throughout the entire weigh-in period, wrestlers have the right, each in turn, to get on the scale as many times as they wish,” the rules say. “If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated of the competition and ranked last, without rank,” UWW’s rules say. Their opponent will win the court by forfeit.

No weight tolerance is allowed, even for the singlet they wear, the rules clearly state. On Wednesday, UWW chief Nenad Lalovic doused any hope of the decision being overturned.

“Rules are rules. I feel very sorry for her. She was overweight by a very small margin. The Weigh-in process is public, all the athletes are there. It's impossible to let someone who doesn't pass the weigh-in, participate,” he said at a presser.

For wrestlers, it’s not the bout on the mat alone but being able to make it through the weigh-in qualifiers that’s a big challenge. This is especially worse on the second day because wrestlers like Phogat who have already participated in several bouts will need at least some water, electrolytes and energy (read: food), which will inevitably add to their weight the following day.

Again, remember that this is not Phogat’s natural weight. For someone who has participated in the 53-kg category and plays a strength + tactical sport, cutting weight is not simple because they need to maintain their muscle mass too. If they have just about made the cut on the first day, it will require extremely harsh measures to keep up with that.

“You have to remember that Vinesh’s usual weight category is the 53 kg category, but Antim Panghal had already qualified for that spot,” says Rudraneil Sengupta, journalist and author of Enter the Dangal: Travels Through India's Wrestling Landscape. “If you consider single-digit body fat ratio, her normal weight would be around 56 kg. So by the time she is down to 50 kg, Vinesh would be dehydrated, exhausted, and physically taxed to the extreme. This kind of weight cut is not only physically demanding but also mentally draining.”

Sengupta recalls a similar incident during the 2012 Olympics in London. “The night before his first match, Sushil Kumar went through a similarly traumatic experience,” he says. “He was vomiting up even the electrolytes he had been given, shitting water, muscles cramping and spasming up and down his body.”

“Cutting weight”, as it is known, is a widespread practice across sports with specific weight categories. Athletes have an off-season when they bulk up and a peak season when they have to cut their weight. It is challenging for elite athletes who are already lean with a body fat percentage of less than 10%. The last 24 hours before the weigh-in are torturous as athletes try to shed each gram of excess weight.

“Wrestlers usually participate in a weight category less than their natural weight. It gives them an advantage since they are fighting with less stronger opponents,” a statement from Dinshaw Pardiwala, the chief medical officer of the Indian Olympic Association read.

“The process of weight cut involves a calculated restriction of food and water along with sweating from exercises and sauna till the morning weigh-in. This weight cut causes weakness and energy depletion, which is counter-productive to participation, and hence, for energy restoration, limited water and high-energy foods are given after weigh-in. Vinesh's nutritionist had calculated this to be 1.5 kg. There sometimes is also a rebound weight gain following competition. Vinesh had three bouts, and hence, small amounts of water had to be given to prevent dehydration. Her post-participation weight was found to be increased…All possible drastic measures, including cutting off her hair, were used. However, she was not below her allowed weight of 50 kg,” Pardiwala wrote.

For the 29-year-old, who comes from a family of wrestlers, the road to reach the Olympics finals has been full of odds. But medal or no medal, Vinesh Phogat’s performance at the games has certainly prompted debates on whether some of these rules should require some buffer if not a rethink and whether it is just medals that make winners.

With inputs from Pradip K Saha

Cover photo from Twitter/@wrestling