Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from Paris Olympics: An athlete’s challenges in managing the self | Paris Olympics 2024 News – Times of India

PARIS: “Abhi nahin, sir, please jaane do. Abhi mujhe weight manage karna hain. I will speak tomorrow.” A hope filled, happy-sounding Vinesh Phogat was bounding off after reaching the final of the women’s 50kg freestyle on Tuesday here in Paris, before she was found just about 100g over in the morning weigh-in for the final.
Even in the euphoria of victory, the 29-year-old wrestler was clearly more concerned about maintaining her weight ahead of the morning’s final weigh-in.Later, as dusk was gathering over the Champs de Mars arena, Vinesh was seen skipping near the athletes’ area. In a full 45-minute session, she did some running and stretching, all wearing layers of clothing to help the excessive sweating continue. Then, as she cooled down, she spent nearly quarter of an hour with herself, sometimes looking ahead – the Eiffel in the distance – or with her head buried in her hands. It was a reflective period for the wrestler, but it was clear more pressing things were on her mind.
Despite all the conspiracy theories swirling over Vinesh’s unfortunate exit hours before what was a historic final, the struggle to manage weight in competition is a real challenge for wrestlers, boxers and weightlifters, sometimes more than the draw itself.
At the 1984 LA Olympics, India’s lifter Kamalakanta Santra was found to be two kg over at the 60kg weigh-in. If memory serves one right, Santra essentially sought to beef himself up by eating. His coach later said that in his zeal, Santra had overeaten.
Cutting weight is a standard practice that all wrestlers carry out, since they usually go into the tournament at least three kg above if not more, but there also comes a time when the body simply refuses to give in. That is what perhaps also may have happened with Vinesh on the final morning. On whether Vinesh needed to eat to replenish her depleted resources can be gauged by her empty reserves in the second period of her quarterfinal bout when Ukriane’s Oksana Livach came strongly at her and the Indian had nothing physical to hold her off with. She resorted instead on experience and guile – and a breather via a challenge – to win.

Often, it is those in the lower weight categories who face the bigger problems, further complicated in case of women for whom shedding weight is physiologically not as easy as in men. There is a natural tendency to gain weight and it is higher in the lower categories than in the higher ones.
“In weight categories that are crucial, we monitor the weight loss at sleep time and in the morning, and discover that in the lower weights, there is often a weight loss of 300 to 500g compared to nearly 800g in the higher categories,” explained Mohit Dhariwal, SAI-appointed boxing team nutritionist during the pre-Games training at Saarbrucken, Germany. “Weights in the lower categories are the toughest to shed.”
He pointed to the case of boxer Nikhat Zareen, who despite being disciplined with dietary requirements, faces great difficulties in managing weight. Indeed, there were whispers of Nikhat’s struggles in Saarbrucken against weight. When asked how much she was over, the boxer often missing from the campus cafeteria since she was placed on a leaner diet, replied, “Three kgs.”
In Paris too, Nikhat faced a similar weight management situation in leading up to both her bouts – against German Maxi Kloetzer and later, China’s Wu Yu. The 50kg boxer told TOI how she had been subsisting solely on water for the past two days. Her throat parched, Nikhat said that the water-only diet had led to sleepless nights before the bouts.
Asked what she would eat after her win over Kloetzer, Nikhat said: “Maybe some little protein, but not much, I have to manage weight.”
Both Vinesh and Nikhat have had to relinquish their favoured weight classes to adjust to lower ones due to either the entry of a superior rival (Antim Panghal, 53 kg) or the official re-jigging of the weight categories. Nikhat had to leave her 54 kg and go down to 50. These adjustments come with a host of problems.
Any boxer or wrestler often weighs at least a couple of kgs if not more than their weight category, making it tortuous to shed weight at such alarming rates and in such short span of time. Vinesh, at 29, has a natural weight easily above 55 kg, plus a possibility of hormonal and retention issues coming into play.
Particular care is taken in the replenishment and recovery.
A visit to the National Institute of Sports, Patiala ahead of the Olympics revealed carefully drawn up charts for nutrition plastered on the boxing hall walls, giving us an idea of how much rigour goes into an athlete’s weight management.