Courage shattered… don’t have any more strength: Vinesh Phogat retires | Sport-others News
Vinesh Phogat went to sleep desolate, letting the world know that she’d hung up her wrestling boots with a short middle-of-the-night announcement on social media.
“Ma, kushtee mere se jeet gayi, main haar gayi. Maaf karna, aapka sapna, meri himmat sab toot chukein. Isse zyada taqat nahi rahi ab. Alvida kushtee 2001-2024 (Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is shattered. I don’t have any more strength now. Goode wrestling 2001-2024),” Phogat said in a post on X, adding that she would always be indebted to all.
When she woke up, the wrestler had a surprise visitor: Abhinav Bindra. “I had to meet her because she is my hero,” Bindra, independent India’s first individual gold medall at the Olympics, told The Indian Express.
माँ कुश्ती मेरे से जीत गई मैं हार गई माफ़ करना आपका सपना मेरी हिम्मत सब टूट चुके इससे ज़्यादा ताक़त नहीं रही अब।
अलविदा कुश्ती 2001-2024 🙏
आप सबकी हमेशा ऋणी रहूँगी माफी 🙏🙏
— Vinesh Phogat (@Phogat_Vinesh) August 7, 2024
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Phogat was one win away from joining Bindra in the exclusive club of India’s individual gold medalls — Neeraj Chopra is the only other member. On the morning of her Olympic final on Wednesday, however, she could not meet the weight criteria and was disqualified for being 100 grams overweight. Her day of triumph turned into torment.
Bindra reached the Athletes’ Village with a bouquet and a message, and extracted a smile out of her — the first time she smiled “dil se” (from the heart), one of Phogat’s team members said.
Dear Vinesh, It is said that sport is a celebration of human will. I have known that to be true many times in my career but never has it resonated more than today. As I look around me, I see a nation… pic.twitter.com/XflL03FJjY
— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) August 8, 2024
In a post on X, he paid tribute to Phogat’s resilience. “Through you, we are learning what it means to never lose the fight in us, even as a loss weighs heavily. You embody the true spirit of a warrior,” he wrote.
“Not all victories look alike. Some end up as a glittering souvenir in a cabinet but the ones that matter more find their way into the stories we tell our children. And every child in this country will know the champion you are. Every child will grow up wanting to face life with the resilience you have displayed. I thank you for that,” he wrote.
Phogat’s team has filed an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), urging it to take a considerate view and challenge the competition rules, saying she wasn’t awarded even a silver medal despite making it to the final in a fair manner. The outcome of the appeal is pending.
Bindra wasn’t the only one to offer support to Phogat. American wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt, who Phogat was supposed to wrestle for the gold medal, also expressed solidarity.
Speaking after winning the 50-kg final on Wednesday, Hildebrandt said she “felt for her”. “She had an amazing day yesterday (Tuesday), did an insane feat (beating the undefeated Japanese Yui Susaki) and you know, I don’t think she saw that happening in an Olympics like that… So, for sure, my heart goes out for her. I think she’s an amazing competitor, an amazing wrestler in person. It sucks, but also, at the end of the day, this is definitely part of the job and we all pledge to get it done, as shitty as it is,” she said.
