Rio, Tokyo and Paris: Vinesh Phogat’s unfortunate Olympic heartbreaks

In recent years, whenever Indian wrestling is mentioned, Vinesh Phogat’s name invariably pops up.

Vinesh, a part of India’s famed Phogat sisters, is the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold medals at both the Asian and Commonwealth Games. The Indian grappler also has two world championship bronze medals in her trophy cabinet.

Coming from a family of wrestlers, Vinesh Phogat broke onto the international stage in 2013 as a 19-year-old, winning bronze at the Asian wrestling championship in Delhi. Soon after, she staged a massive upset at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, defeating home favourite Yana Rattigan to win the gold.

Since then, Vinesh Phogat hasn’t looked back, winning a slew of medals, including two more Commonwealth Games golds at Gold Coast 2018 and Birmingham 2022, world championships bronze in 2019 and 2022 and the Asian championship title in 2021. Very few Indian wrestlers have managed to match Viseh Phogat’s exploits over the past few years.

Despite her consistent performances, though, success at the Olympic stage has eluded Vinesh Phogat so far. Below, we look at Vinesh Phogat’s performances in the three Olympic Games she has been a part of.

Vinesh Phogat at Rio 2016 Olympics

Going into Rio 2016, Vinesh Phogat won the Asian championship silver medal in 2015. She backed that performance up with another commanding display at the Olympic qualifiers in Istanbul, where she beat Polish wrestler Iwona Motkowska to make the cut for the women’s 48kg division at the Rio Games.

Just 21 at the time, Vinesh Phogat made her Olympics debut with a roaring 11-0 win by technical superiority over Romania’s Emilia Alina Vuc. Though the Indian twisted her right elbow early in the bout, it didn’t stop her from dominating the match.

In the quarter-finals, Vinesh Phogat met the People's Republic of China’s Sun Yanan in a tight match.

Vinesh earned the first point of the bout due to a passivity call on Yanan but the Chinese wrestler fought right back to earn two points with a takedown.

With that point, Yanan pinned down Vinesh Phogat in a very uncomfortable position, which left the Indian writhing in pain with a knee injury.

A teary-eyed Vinesh Phogat had to be carried off the mat in a stretcher as her maiden Olympic Games came to an unfortunate and unceremonious end.

While the injury left fans wondering if she would ever take the mat again, Vinesh Phogat only came back stronger in 2018.

Between the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, Vinesh Phogat competed in 17 championships, winning medals in 16 of them - nine golds, six silvers and a bronze medal.

Vinesh Phogat at Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Vinesh Phogat sealed her spot at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after winning the bronze medal at the 2019 world championships in Kazakhstan. She had also moved up a weight class, to 53kg, over the past few years.

Despite the Tokyo Games getting postponed by a year due to COVID, Vinesh Phogat entered Tokyo 2020 as the reigning world No. 1. She was the top seed in her weight class, on the back of a great run in the first half of 2021 which also saw her become the Asian champion for the first time.

Determined to put the heartbreak at Rio behind her, Vinesh Phogat began her Tokyo Olympics campaign with a commanding 7-1 win over Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson - a Rio 2016 bronze medallist.

However, Vinesh Phogat’s dreams of a grand comeback remained unfulfilled with Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya producing a massive upset over the top-seeded Indian. Vinesh went down fighting 9-2 in her quarter-final bout.

Vinesh Phogat’s stay in the tournament came to an end after Vanesa Kaladzinskaya lost in the semi-final, ending repechage hopes for the Indian.

Post the defeat, a distraught Vinesh Phogat opened up about taking a break from wrestling, citing mental health reasons.

“My body is not broken, but I truly am,” Vinesh Phogat told the Indian Express.

She also revealed that she didn’t know when she would return back to wrestling and if she would at all.

“As an athlete, the mental pressure is so much that we’re always on a thin line. When it crosses, we are done,” she stated.

Vinesh Phogat at Paris 2024 Olympics

With Antim Panghal grabbing the 53kg spot for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Vinesh Phogat took the decision to compete in the women's 50kg event. She secured the quota at the Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek in April.

Vinesh entered the Paris 2024 Olympics wrestling competition with a tough draw. In the opening round, the unseeded Indian was pitted against Japan's Yui Susaki, a three-time world champion in the 50kg category and the defending Olympic champion, who was unbeaten in international competitions with an 82-0 record. The Japanese wrestler was also a former world champion in the 48kg and a two-time Asian champion. The opening match seemed like a foregone conclusion.

However, Vinesh pulled off a colossal upset after she beat Yui Susaki 3-2 for the biggest win of her career.

In the quarter-finals, Phogat defeated Ukraine's Oksana Livach, a former European champion, 7-5 and then stormed into the final after defeating Pan American Games champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba 5-0 in the semi-finals. This made Vinesh the first Indian woman to reach an Olympic final in wrestling.

However, Vinesh Phogat was found to be overweight by 100 grams during the weigh-in on the morning of the final. As a result, Vinesh was disqualified and barred from contesting the final. According to rules, she ranked last in the category in the event and ended what would have been a historic campaign.

Vinesh Phogat at the Olympics: All results