Vinesh Phogat disqualified: What are the weight cut rules for wrestling in Olympics?
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the gold medal bout of the women’s 50kg category at the Paris Olympics after failing her second weigh in on Wednesday.
Vinesh has struggled with cutting weight particularly for lower weight categories. Sources from her team revealed that the camp raced against time to help her make the hard 50kg limit in place in the Olympics, but fell short by a little over 100gm.
Here’s how the weight restictions work in the Olympics and how it’s different from other UWW or international tournaments:
Weigh-ins take place in the morning for any wrestlers competing that day. The tournament for each weight class will be contested over a two-day span, so any wrestlers that make the finals or the repechage will have to make weight on both days.
During the first weigh-in, wrestlers will have 30 minutes to make weight. They have the right to get on the scale as many times as they wish. Contestants are weighed with their singlets, but nothing else. Athletes will also be examined to make sure they have no signs of any contagious disease and that their fingernails are cut very short.
For any wrestlers competing on the second day, the weigh-in will last 15 minutes. This is a non-negotiable window during which the wrestler must make the required weight or risk disqualification.
UWW’s weigh-in guidelines (Article 11)
If changes are done in the final entries compared to the entries in Athena (ONLY after exceptional circumstances like injury (confirmed by a medical certificate)), the updated athletes’ entry list must be submitted to the organizer by the team leader, without fail, at least at 12h00 the day before the weigh-in and the competition day of the concerned weight category.
No changes will be accepted after this time. For all competitions, the weigh-in is organized each morning of the concerned weight-category. The weigh-in and the medical control lasts 30 minutes. The second morning of the concerned weight category only the wrestlers who participate in the repechages and finals have to come for the weigh-in. This weigh-in will last 15 minutes.
No wrestler may be accepted at the weigh-in if he has not undergone a medical examination the first morning. Wrestlers must appear at the medical examination and the weigh-in with their license and accreditation.
The only uniform allowed for the weigh-in is the singlet.
After having been examined by qualified physicians who are obliged to eliminate any wrestler who presents any danger of contagious disease, the wrestler can be weighed-in.
No weight tolerance will be allowed for the singlet.
Contestants must be in perfect physical condition, with their fingernails cut very short.
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 referees responsible for the weigh-in must check that all wrestlers are of the weight corresponding to the category in which they are entered for the competition, that they fulfil all the requirements of Article 5 and to inform any wrestler of the risk he runs if he presents himself on the mat in incorrect dress.
Referees will refuse to weigh a wrestler who is not dressed correctly.
The referees responsible for the weigh-in will received the results of the draw and will be allowed to control only the athletes who are on this list.
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. If an athlete is injured during the first day, he doesn’t have to attend the second weigh-in and will keep his results.
According to the UWW, the medical control and a first weigh-in will be held the morning of the concerned weight category. The qualified athletes for the finals and repechages will be weigh-in again the second morning of the concerned weight category. No more weight tolerance will be allowed for the second weigh-in.
Two kilograms weight tolerance is allowed for World Cup and for the International Tournaments (Except UWW Ranking Events).
The Olympics follow a strict weight restriction without the 2kg weigh in tolerance.
How did this pan out in Vinesh Phogat’s case?
Hours after Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the 50kg wrestling final due to a failed weigh-in on Wednesday morning, a member of her camp revealed the distressing details of her weight-cutting ordeal. “Her normal weight is 57kg, and she did everything to get down to 50kg,” the member said. “She was 49.9kg yesterday (Tuesday) morning, but the moment she had even a small meal, her weight bounced back to at least 53kg. She had to reach this weight to have the strength to fight in three bouts.”
“After the semifinals last night, her weight was 52.7kg. She didn’t sleep even a minute, didn’t drink a sip of water, and didn’t have a morsel of food. She spent the entire night running and using the sauna. She made it to 50.1kg but didn’t have time to cut the last 100 grams. There was no leeway and no extra time to make weight.”
Why does Vinesh lose her medal if she won the semifinal after making the right weight?
According to Article 11 of the United World Wrestling’s rule book, an athlete who fails to make the weight cut will be eliminated from the event. “If an athlete does not attend or fails the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last, without rank.”
The last clause there, without rank, strips her of the triumphs she amassed en route to the final.
Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the 50kg women’s freestyle wrestling semifinals, has been named as the Indian’s replacement for the gold medal bout.
“Vinesh failed second day weigh-in. According to the arcticle 11 of the International Wrestling Rules, Vinesh will be replaced by the wrestler who lost against her in the Semifinal. Therefore Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (Cuba) will compete in the Final,” said the organisers in an official statement.
The statement further mentioned that the repechage bout between the top-seeded Japanese wrestler Yui Susaki, who lost her first-ever international bout to Vinesh in the opening round, and Ukraine’s Oksana Livach, who suffered a 5-7 defeat against the Indian in the quarterfinals, will now be a bronze medal match.