The wrestling weigh-in rules are wrong.It’s that simple, says Rudraneil Sengupta

A hundred grammes. A fifth of what an Olympic medal weighs. It’s the margin that turned one of the greatest sporting comeback stories into one of pure heartbreak.

Take nothing away from Vinesh Phogat, who has shown over the last 18 months that she is much more than just the most decorated female wrestler from India. In that period, she has raised her voice against the most powerful person in her sport in the country, India’s then wrestling chief Brij Bhushan Singh (who was also, until June, a Member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party).
She stood her ground as the political establishment protected Singh from being charged and arrested in multiple cases of sexual harassment. Held her ground as trolls launched waves of attacks. Spent nearly two months sleeping on a pavement alongside other wrestlers, as they took their protest to the streets of Delhi.
She then tore a ligament in her knee and made a recovery in record time, battling through immense pain for a shot at the Games. She was denied trials in her preferred weight category and went down to a lower category, to give herself a chance. She qualified; beat Tokyo gold medallist Yui Susaki of Japan, who had been unbeaten for more than a decade; decimated the rest of the field; became the first Indian woman in an Olympic wrestling final.
That she should have come home empty-handed exposes a serious problem with the way the Olympic wrestling rules are structured.
This was highlighted by US wrestler Jordan Burroughs (the 2012 Olympic champion and six-time world champion). In a post on X after Phogat failed to make her second weigh-in, Burroughs called for change — a call that has rung out in the past.
Demands include a 1 kg second-day weight allowance; weigh-ins pushed from 8.30 am to 10.30 am; and an assured medal if a finalist fails a final weigh-in.
Any of these changes would have lessened the blow for Phogat, for India, and for the sport. And all of them make sense. Here’s why.
Wrestlers go through incredible suffering for days before a weigh-in. The starving and dehydration are so extreme that fighters call it the most brutal aspect of their sport.
At the weigh-in, wrestlers are often so dehydrated that they can’t sweat. Some find it difficult to stand. This is one reason weigh-ins happen early on a match day, to give wrestlers time to rehydrate and eat.
It is particularly cruel to have two weigh-ins at a single event. For most of Olympic history, this was not the case. All wrestling matches were fought in one day. Fighters could rehydrate and nourish themselves as much as they wanted, as they progressed through the rounds. It was only at the Tokyo Games that medal rounds were pushed to Day 2, and a second weigh-in instituted.
So when we say no one before Phogat failed a second weigh-in, it’s because only a handful of Olympic wrestlers have ever had to do one.
Wrestling’s world body should seriously consider dropping the second weigh-in, to protect their athletes’ health. Or, as Burroughs suggests, allow a 1 kg exemption. All wrestling events except the Olympics already have a 2 kg exemption for second weigh-ins, so this shouldn’t be hard to do.
The second question Burroughs raises is equally poignant: If a wrestler has beaten an entire field to make it to the final, how can they be denied a medal? In Phogat’s case, the wrestler she beat in the opening round, while at her legal weight, has now won bronze. How is that fair?
As wrestlers and coaches now call for change, perhaps Vinesh’s legacy will be that, once again, she made that change possible.
(To reach Rudraneil Sengupta with feedback, email [email protected])