New Delhi: Vinesh Phogat, whose dream of winning an Olympic medal was brutally crushed after she failed to make the weight by just 100 grams, has finally broken her silence on the sequence of events that saw her getting disqualified.
“During the wrestlers protest I was fighting hard to protect the sanctity of women in India, the sanctity and values of our Indian flag,” she said in a statement on X, the social media platform. “But when I look at the pictures of me with the Indian flag from 28th May 2023, it haunts me. It was my wish to have the Indian flag fly high this Olympics, to have a picture of the Indian flag with me that truly represents its value and restores its sanctity. I felt that by doing this it will correctly reprimand what the flag went through and what wrestling went through. I really was hoping to show that to my fellow Indians.”
She also defended her coach Woller Akos and support staff members in a statement, saying they did everything possible to bring her weight down to the permissible limit.
“On the night of 6th August and the morning of 7th August, all I want to say is that we did not give up, our efforts did not stop, and we did not surrender but the clock stopped and the time was not fair,” she wrote. “So was my fate. To my team, my fellow Indians and my family, it feels like the goal that we were working towards and what we had planned to achieve is unfinished, that something might always remain missing, and that things might never be the same again.”
Vinesh announced her retirement in the aftermath of her dramatic disqualification from the Paris Olympics on the day of the final. On Friday, Vinesh, in a long emotional statement, said “maybe under different circumstances, I could see myself playing till 2032, because the fight in me and wrestling in me will always be there. I can’t predict what the future holds for me, and what awaits me in this journey next, but I am sure that I will continue to fight always for what I believe in and for the right thing.”
From personal coach Akos, strength and conditioning expert Wayne Patrick Lombard, physiotherapist Ashwini Jeevan Patil, nutritionist Tajinder Kaur, Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, who operated upon her, and other members of her team, Vinesh spoke how each one of them have contributed towards her journey to Paris Olympics.
On Hungarian Akos, who has been guiding her since 2018, Vinesh said he is the “best coach, best guide and best human.”
“There were times when I doubted myself, and was shifting away from my internal focus and he would know exactly what to say and how to bring me back on my path. He was more than a coach, my family in wrestling. I want to give him the recognition he deserves, whatever I do will never be enough to thank him for his sacrifices, for the time he spent away from his family.”
She also defended Dr Pardiwala who came under scanner as chief medical officer of the Indian contingent, on the weight management fiasco.
He is not just a doctor but an angel in disguise sent by god. When I had stopped believing in myself after facing injuries, it was his belief, work and faith in me that got me back on my feet again. He has operated on me not once but thrice (both knees and one elbow) and has shown me how resilient the human body can be,” said Vinesh.
Vinesh applauded the support staff of the Indian contingent at the Paris Olympics.
On Lombard, who was part of Vinesh’s team during her recovery period from the knee injury, she said it was his work and efforts that made her bounce back both the times when she was injured.
Vinesh also spoke of the support given by Olympic Gold Quest. “In two of the most difficult times in recent years, one – post-Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and two – post the Wrestler’s protest and ACL surgery in 2023, it was because of their backing and constant support that I could overcome.”
Revisiting her childhood, Vinesh, who lost her father early, described the hardships of the family and sacrifices made by her mother in raising her three children.
“Seeing my mother’s hardships, never-give-up attitude and fighting spirit is what makes me the way I am. She taught me to fight for what is rightfully mine. When I think about courage I think about her and it is this courage that helps me fight every fight without thinking about the outcome.”
