Throughout the Paris Olympics 2024, Indian athlete Vinesh Phogat was assured a medal within the 50 Kg class in wrestling. Nevertheless, on the day of the ultimate, the 30-year-old was discovered to be 100 grams obese and was disqualified from the competitors denying her of a medal. Talking to The Indian Categorical when requested if United World Wrestling (UWW) ought to have allowance of 1 Kg for the second day she would reply “Undoubtedly”.
“I feel there is no such thing as a have to even verify the load once more of those that have reached the ultimate. Or they need to delay the weigh-in a bit on the second day so it offers extra time. There must be an allowance, particularly for ladies since their physique construction is completely different from males,” Phogat stated.
In accordance with UWW Olympics weigh-in guidelines, wrestlers should weigh in on the morning of their competitors. However earlier than the weigh-in on Day 1, a wrestler is meant to look at a medical examination with their licence and accreditation, whereas sporting their singlet.
The weigh-in interval is half-hour on Day 1 and a wrestler can attempt weighing themselves a number of instances. On Day 2, if relevant, a wrestler has quarter-hour to make the load and this too is completed on the morning of the competitors.
“Ladies can’t lose greater than 3 kg in a day when you’re at peak health as a result of your fats % is already very low. Males wrestlers can however we can not as a result of our physique retains water. All ladies athletes are involved in regards to the weight minimize on the second day. On the Video games Village, there have been not less than 50 athletes, from completely different sports activities, who hugged me and stated that that is improper,” Phogat stated.
The worldwide governing physique’s president, Nenad Lalovic, insisted they gained’t revise the principles primarily based on this one incident. He added the taking part in rules had been shaped to make sure wrestlers ‘compete of their pure weight class’ moderately than drastically lowering weight, which may ‘impression well being’ on the time.