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When an athlete makes a gold medal match at the Olympics, a silver medal is typically seen as a happy worst-case scenario. It wound up being much worse for India’s Vinesh Phogat.
Phogat, who defeated Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzmán 5-0 in the semifinal on Tuesday, was eliminated from the women’s 50kg wrestling tournament on Thursday morning when she failed her second weigh-in, the Olympics announced. Phogat had been set to face Team USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt for gold on Wednesday, the first time a female Indian would have ever competed in an Olympic wrestling final.
The extra weight won’t just cost Phogat the first wrestling gold medal in India’s history. United World Wrestling’s rules explain that when a wrestler doesn’t make weight on the second weigh-in, they are eliminated from the tournament and are basically ranked last, unless someone is forced to withdraw on the first day of competition.
The overnight weight cut was brutal enough that Phogat had to be hospitalized after the weigh-in because she fainted due to dehydration, according to India Today. She was reportedly 150 grams (0.33 pounds) overweight.
So Phogat will leave Paris without a medal. You can see the official Olympic bracket with Phogat’s name crossed out here.
Meanwhile, Hildebrandt won’t win gold by default. She will instead face the woman Phogat defeated in the semifinal, Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzmán.
Guzmán was previously set to compete in a bronze medal match against the winner of a repechage, but that repechage between Japan’s Susaki Yui and Ukraine’s Oksana Livach, both of whom Phogat also defeated, will instead become one of the two bronze medal matches.
Olympic wrestling tournaments usually hold two repechages with the winners facing the semifinal losers for a bronze medal. Combat sports are unique in that they offer multiple bronze medals rather than a true bronze medal match.
Hildebrandt, seeded sixth in the tournament, won bronze in the event in Tokyo and is a four-time medalist in the world championships, but without a gold.
