Who ruined Vinesh Phogat's chances at Paris Olympics? | Ep 120

[00:00:01] Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat faced a shocking setback today as she was disqualified from competing in the 50 kg category. The wrestler was reportedly over the permissible weight limit by 100 grams. So who is to blame for India's chance at an Olympic gold?

[00:00:18] Is it the International Olympic Committee, the Indian Olympic Association or the wrestler herself? Let us find out. Hi, you are listening to Onmanorama's explainer podcast, News Break. A weekly show that breaks down news in a clutter-free manner.

[00:00:36] This is Harita Benjamin and today we are here to look into the recent controversy surrounding Vinesh Phogat's disqualification at the Olympics. Senior sports journalist Leslie Xavier joins News Break today to discuss the matter. Leslie has been on our show earlier to discuss the controversy regarding the WFI.

[00:00:58] So thanks for joining us again this week, Leslie. Thank you, Harita. So first, could you briefly tell us what the exact rules for the 50 kg category were and how Phogat failed to meet the requirement? These are rules for all categories.

[00:01:15] So a wrestler and this applies for any sport that has weight divisions in competitions, weightlifting, boxing, taekwondo and various other disciplines where fights happen within weight categories. As far as Vinesh is concerned, category was 50 kg.

[00:01:35] So there is an official weighing that happens on the day of the competition. As per the international rules, the UWW which is the wrestling world governing body, as per their rules, on the day of the competition morning there is a half an hour

[00:01:51] window within which the wrestler has to go through medical check and get clearance and then give the weight, make the category. So by making the category, Vinesh had to show a weight to be during the time of the weighing. It has to be marginally below.

[00:02:08] It can be just 0.001 gram below 50 kg. That's the rule. So she would have made that weight yesterday during weighing in the morning prior to the preliminary round bouts. And so the same thing applies today as well on the day of the final.

[00:02:24] Now all the wrestlers who made it to the medal rounds or the repr-charge rounds will have to go through the weighing process again the next day when the bouts happen. So this morning she went for the weighing and she was overweight by a few grams, reportedly under grams.

[00:02:43] As per the UWW rules, if you don't make the weight category, the wrestler will be disqualified immediately. So she had that stipulated time within which she had to show that and so she would have run out of time as well.

[00:02:58] So how the process works, I can just briefly tell you that as well. It's that most of the wrestlers carry a little extra weight because that gives them an advantage during the bout.

[00:03:07] So actually all the wrestlers would be carrying a couple of kilos at least more than their weight category and they would cut it for the weighing. And then so mostly the cut is done by dehydration.

[00:03:20] So they sweat it out, they control the food intake and the fluid intake and bring it down. And then immediately after they make the weight, they can replenish themselves. So they will take the electrolytes. All the international competitors have a set protocol, recovery protocols that they

[00:03:37] follow before the bouts. They will try and recover as much as possible. And then because they will have to fight efficiently, right? So if they are dehydrated, they can't. So that's the process that they go through.

[00:03:49] So in Vinay's case, she would have recovered herself yesterday, fought through the bouts and fought brilliantly. And then at the end of the semi-final, she would have started a weight loss protocol again because next day morning she has to again make the 50 kg.

[00:04:06] She would have started cutting, she would have stopped drinking fluids. Apparently as per reports, she was doing skipping and running and jogging through the night so that she can sweat it out. So that process would have happened.

[00:04:19] But then her body just didn't probably at some point this happens too as a wrestler. When I used to compete, I have gone through cut processes once I have not made it to my weight division, narrowly missed it out.

[00:04:33] And so sometimes the body reaches a point where it gets into that defensive mode because it's trying to protect yourself also. You are actually pushing your body to the extreme, squeezing it out. It's very hard on yourself and the mind.

[00:04:47] And then sometimes the body refuses to let go of water, it tries to retain. And probably she must have hit that wall at some point and then a body just was not dehydrating after that. So that would have been the cause of it.

[00:05:04] I mean, without understanding what exactly transpired then. It's based on a bit of experience and assumption that I am saying this. Right. OK, so now from what I understand, she used to usually compete in the 53 kg category, right?

[00:05:20] And she shifted to the 50 kg category in the Olympics and her matches with the Japanese and Cuban counterparts show that she was at the top of her game. But is it really advisable when you look at it from a career-wise perspective and health-wise perspective?

[00:05:38] Going through a weight cut is a norm in fight sports. Everybody does that. So, Avangeline Liket-Sarri who lost a couple of days prior in boxing and she was also a medal contender, she was going through this weight cut and very

[00:05:54] drastically through the course of the tournament in Paris and she lost in the second round, right? So, in the pre-quarters. So, this is the thing is that body weight advantage is a big thing in fight sport.

[00:06:12] So, if you carry a 1 or 2 kgs above and we are talking about fine margins as far as competition and how tough the competition is and all that. And so, the point is that everybody does that. So, if you don't do it, you miss out on Liket.

[00:06:28] So, as far as whether it's advisable with a health perspective, of course it's not and it's so hard on the body that these are temporary losses and this is a cycle that you have to go through.

[00:06:43] Of course, the body is resilient enough, even body that way is good, that it recovers and all that but it stretches the systems to the limit. So, it's not easy on the body. I mean ideally one should fight in the category but we are talking about

[00:06:56] once in a life or twice in a life chance to make that big medal at the games or you're competing at IS level, world championship, Asian Games or whatever. And you want to have that edge and this has been the set norm.

[00:07:09] And like I said earlier, we are talking about even professional boxing or any arena for that matter where weight categories are, everybody goes through this. So, that's a norm. So, the other question that you asked, why she made that shift?

[00:07:23] It is actually a very pertinent question that we need to talk about now. And it is related to the protest that she did against sexual harassment and for standing up for the women wrestlers in the country. So, it is related to the history Vinesh Kovet has with the

[00:07:39] federation because Vinesh has always been an outspoken critique of the federation and the officials. He has always stood up and asked for what she felt is right. In fact, last Olympics she created a mild controversy again by asking for physio and ideally it shouldn't be a controversy because

[00:07:56] wrestlers do need physio and they didn't have a dedicated physio. She spoke to the media and said that we need it. So, that is the kind of wrestler that Vinesh is. And she was always at logaheads and then the last protest where

[00:08:13] she was manhandled at Janta Mantra that was a much larger fight than any of us can imagine. She was fighting for the future of Indian wrestlers. And so, when the Olympic qualification cycle was starting last year, Vinesh got injured. So, she was off competition.

[00:08:33] So, that's when Antin Pangal who is representing India in the 50th KG category in Paris right now. Today in fact, she has about. So, when Antin Pangal won a medal and she won the quota place for the Olympics from the direct qualification because

[00:08:48] the World Championship medalist previous year of the Olympics they directly qualified for the Olympics. And so, in wrestling it's a quota place. It's not that Antin has won it. She has won it for the country. Now it depends on the country who they tend to represent.

[00:09:04] So, usually all the top wrestling nations they conduct a wrestling trial, national trial before the Olympic Games of all the quota categories won. And then the winner of that trial represents the country. In India this year, this time around they conduct the trials

[00:09:21] but prior to that there was no precedent of that. The wrestler who wins the quota goes and represents the country. And so, this ambiguity and also the controversies that she was going through with the federation, she was doubtful whether she would get a fair trial

[00:09:38] if she is stuck to 53 kg category. So, she was always afraid of that. I am talking on this from the understanding that I have having been in the wrestler and I am privy to certain things that happen within the federation.

[00:09:53] And also to an extent the apprehensions that she has not directly expressed but it is very evident that she was afraid that this trial won't happen either or if the trial happens it won't be a fair trial.

[00:10:06] So, she decided not to take a risk and she decided to cut weight because 50 kg was anyways nobody had won the quota and that was available. So, she cut the weight category. So, let me just give you perspective the magnitude of the cut.

[00:10:21] So, when she was fighting in 53 again she would have been above 53. So, she would have probably been around 55 or 56 kg at that point. This is late last year. And then she cut it down to below 50. So, that means that the cut is huge.

[00:10:37] Going by the kind of body composition that a 50 kg, 55 kg wrestler has you can imagine there is nothing to cut and then to take your body through that. And so, this category change is in a way not by choice. If given a choice, Vinesh would have stuck to

[00:10:55] 53 kg. That was the category that she has always fought in. And also considering the Olympics she already had faced the same issue. So, there was no reason why she would have shifted to the 50 kg category. Yeah, there was no reason for her to shift other than

[00:11:14] the apprehension that she may not get a chance to represent the country in the Olympics at all. And she badly wanted that because for her it's the third Olympics and this could potentially, I mean this would be last Olympics I assume. And also, Indian Federation has this very,

[00:11:29] I mean not so great reputation about Olympic trials and all that. If you remember, I mean I'll just jog the memory back, 2016 Rio Olympics now that you mentioned Rio, the controversy between Narsing Yadav and Sushil Kumar was similar. So, Narsing Yadav won the Olympic quota.

[00:11:46] The previous world championship he won bronze and he won the quota for the country. And Sushil Kumar was also fighting in the same category. Kumar was off competition because of an injury. But he being a double Olympic medallist and having a substantial clout in the federation

[00:12:01] wanted a trial. And till then, Indian Federation has never held a trial for Olympics. The quota winner was always going. And so, Sushil filed a case for it. Federation stuck to the line that Narsing Yadav will go. Sushil filed a case for it.

[00:12:17] And when the hearing was on, suddenly I mean at the national camp in Sonipur, Narsing Yadav tested positive for a banned performance and anti-drugs. And then the controversy erupted that Sushil's coterie or someone who was a well-visual of Sushil in the national

[00:12:34] camp set up, they spiked Narsing's food and that's how he was tested positive. These were not proven but Narsing was banned. He missed out his chance to represent the country. Sushil didn't represent the country either because of the controversy surrounding it.

[00:12:51] So there was always, Vinesh I have had every right to be apprehensive about whether she will get a fair trial or not. And she didn't take a risk and she of course now in hindsight what happened today, it was a major risk

[00:13:04] and it just backfired at the worst possible moment. This is I mean shocking and disappointing and I don't know what all adjectives to use here now. Right, right. So I know we do for a fact that you know the sporting events the rules are the final word, right?

[00:13:19] There is no flexibility on that regard. But you were speaking about the time when the wrestlers are usually weighed. Is there any flexibility on that regard? From what I understand even you know the Indians had appealed to the authorities to you know allow her some more time to

[00:13:35] reduce that 100 grams. Could they have allowed that or there is no window for that also to be done? I went to the UWW rule book after this happened and so the I can share it with you as well for your reference. The rule is pretty clear.

[00:13:51] It's an half an hour window in the morning and they will fix that time. And you have to make it that and it remains the same for everyone. So if you stretch it for five minutes for someone that's not fair to the other wrestlers as well.

[00:14:03] So you can't question that. And the rule also stipulates that the process is this. That the wrestler has to go through a medical check. It's basically a check where they check for parameters and also check whether you have any illnesses and things like that. And injuries or

[00:14:21] illnesses and things like that. And then go through the I mean the final way. So the wrestler by rule can go in and check end number of times. Within that half an hour period. But once that half an hour is up you are not allowed.

[00:14:39] And then the rule is that be it day one or day two. If the wrestler doesn't make the weight then they are disqualified. Immediate effect and in Vinitia's case the rule is that you will be ranked either last or ranked out of the ranking. So that's the rule.

[00:14:57] It's stipulated very clearly. So the thing is that appeal notwithstanding you can bend the rules for one person because then that you can't. So whatever reports have come out that IOA has appealed and there is intervention from the Prime Minister's office and all those

[00:15:17] things. It will all amount to nothing because rules are rules. Right. So how do these appeals usually work? We you know, raise it from the Indian Olympic Association side and then it goes to the Olympics Committee and then they review the decision or

[00:15:33] with a panel or how does it work usually? Usually it is like that. IOA has to make an official appeal and in most cases when it's regarding a competition or about something like that, appeal has to happen within a stipulated time after the incident in question.

[00:15:51] So and it has to be put across through the official channels and it would be usually the chef-de-mission of the Indian Olympic contingent who is supposed to make that appeal. I am going by reports coming in that they have appealed but then in what official capacity,

[00:16:09] how and what channels that they perceived and all that are yet to know. But as far as I know, going by reports, they have appealed and I spoke to an official who was a UWW top level technical official and also a top official

[00:16:27] at the Wrestling Federation of India and he said that this is a very technical rule and there is no bending. Appeals will never, I mean 99% won't be entertained and that 1% also, I don't know why he said that but it's unlikely that the appeal will be entertained.

[00:16:49] So even if India is emerging as a stronger presence in the Olympics and we know that Neeta Ambani was re-elected as India's representative at the IOC unanimously. There is nothing that a growing presence would help in such a case. Not in these cases. Not in these cases.

[00:17:11] So there were things like what the growing presence should be used for is to not wait for controversies or not wait for such situations to arise. Try and figure out ways when our athletes get the best treatment, the best facilities even there. I'm not questioning whether

[00:17:31] the training facilities and all are best or not because all the elite athletes in the country are getting the best possible support and infrastructure and all to train. Vinesh Phogat for instance trains abroad most of the time. So that way it is fine. Just that

[00:17:47] at the venue, so there were reports saying that Indian athletes were struggling because there was no AC given to their rooms and then the government sent across ACs and all that. These reports and all came. So why 10 days into the competition this discovery happened? Why not

[00:18:07] use your cloud or use your presence in the IOA to ensure that the rooms allotted to the Indian contingent are up to the mark or are up to our requirements and then make that intervention on day 1, not on day 10. That is what we need to question

[00:18:23] here. As far as bending the rules and all that will never happen at the Olympic level or that should never happen at any level that way for anyone who has a cloud because that is the biggest problem that Indian sport or in general Indian

[00:18:37] society faces. Everybody has their cloud because they are connected to something or the other. That shouldn't be the same. It should be a level playing field. Okay now as you said an athlete is never responsible for their game alone. There is an entire team of trainers, nutritionists

[00:18:53] supporting them and usually the team is responsible for keeping a tab on that athlete or wrestler. Could it be the case that the team, Vinesh Fogat's team actually failed to offer the adequate support? Is there any possibility on that regard? You have been a wrestler

[00:19:09] yourself. So how important is the team and how could they have made sure that this didn't happen? There are two aspects to weight cut. One is the physiological aspect and the other one of course is the physical aspect. So for an athlete especially an athlete who is

[00:19:29] fighting for gold at the Olympics there are many things that need to be planned around pre-planned and planned. So a weight cut protocol for an elite wrestler like Vinesh would be set on stone. They would have tried and tested various formulas over the course of

[00:19:47] the years that she has been a competitor internationally. She has gone through a cut. Prior to this also she didn't make the weight category. I believe it was the Asian Championship few years back. So how the body responds and how the

[00:20:01] weight cut is made possible and all these protocols are there in place. And the difficulty of the task I will just explain by explaining what Vinesh would have gone through yesterday. So she made that weight category 50 kg. She would have cut I am assuming 2.5 to 3

[00:20:19] kg to make that weight category. Maybe even more. And then there is a few hours before her first bout against Susati, the Japanese legend. And so she has to recover her body, her energy level, the salt balance in the body. She starts eating. Then the food intake

[00:20:37] and the fluid intake has to be very systematic because otherwise the body rejects. You start throwing up, you get into diarrhea. Apparently reportedly Sushil Kumar went through that in 2012 London Olympics. And one of the reasons why he underperformed in the final was this, that he started vomiting.

[00:20:55] So you have to take it systematically and so the body, the wrestler is gaining body weight and she is not bothered about anything else but to gain that so that she can fight and give a tough fight, best possible fight possible. So she went through that, semi-final, till

[00:21:11] the point of the semi-final. And then immediately after semi-final you can't have a refreshing drink because she has to make the weight the next day. So immediately after that and this is I K, I heard from journalists who tried to speak to her at the media scrum after

[00:21:27] the semi-final yesterday. She gave a couple of bites and she immediately said now I have to go back I have to take care of the weight. And she went out. So then from there she would have started dehydrating herself again. And through the night she went

[00:21:41] through, she didn't sleep, she went through skipping, running, jogging, sweating it out and the weight cut is made possible through sweating it out. This last minute weight cut is dehydration completely. So she would have gone through sauna, she would have done running, other activities.

[00:21:57] Get rid of the water weight right? Water weight, temporary weight cut and it's achieved by getting rid of the water. So then she would have gone through that the entire time and then at some point like I said earlier body fights back because body is trying to preserve.

[00:22:15] Preservation mode kicks in and it's genetically connected. It's our physiology. The body fights back and the body tries to retain the weight. Then it becomes impossible and when I have gone through a cut there were points when that last 50 grams and all that were impossible

[00:22:29] to cut. And you somehow manage it somehow. So then the team's role is important because things play in your mind also. So first thing the stress whether you will make it, second thing is whether you will recover enough. So various things play in your mind.

[00:22:45] The team around should be motivating her, should be working with her, should be ensuring monitoring her vitals whether she is overdoing it, figuring all these aspects on the side. And the support team that Vinesh has, the coach, I'm sure they would have done everything possible in this

[00:23:03] thing. So though there have been a couple of officials I spoke to since morning they were critical of the coach saying that he must have overlooked something and that's why this happened. But I believe that they would have tried everything in their capacity to bring the weight down

[00:23:17] because you're talking about someone who's fighting for gold at the Olympics, like why would you compromise anything? So you can't, I mean sitting here you can't just make an assumption that something would have gone amiss. We are talking about a professional athlete here. Absolutely. So I think

[00:23:33] with that we can wind up today's conversation and it's a rather unfortunate event which has happened at the Paris Olympics this time. Thank you so much Leslie for joining us on such short notice. I think all of us were a little more enlightened about what happened. Thank you

[00:23:51] and this is On Manorama's news break and explainer podcast which is produced by Harita Benjamin with technical production by Idea Brew Studios. It comes out every week and is available on all podcast platforms. Do follow OnManorama.com for more updates. Thank you.