Paris/IBNS: While the whole of India cries over Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Paris Olympics, the team’s chief medical officer Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala gave details of the entire weight controversy.
Vinesh was scheduled to compete in her gold medal bout on Wednesday but failed the morning weigh-in after she was found to be about 100 grams overweight to compete in the 50 kg category.
“We tried all kinds of drastic measures all night, including cutting her hair and shortening her clothes. And despite all that, we could not make it into the 50 kg weight class after the disqualification,” the doctor said.
Dr. Pardiwala explained that Vinesh’s weight gain was more than expected after she completed her three workout sessions on Tuesday. He also said that despite several rigorous efforts that usually worked for her, she could not bring down her weight on time.
“We noticed that she had gained more weight than normal after participating and the trainer initiated the normal weight reduction process that he has always used with Vinesh,” he said.
“This is something that has worked for her for a long time. He was confident it would work and overnight we started the weight loss,” he explained.
“However, in the morning we found that despite all our efforts, her weight was 100 grams over her 50-kilogram weight class and she was therefore disqualified,” he added.
In a video message, Dr. Pardiwala and PT Usha, President of the Indian Olympic Association, gave a detailed statement on the entire incident.
Here is the full text of Dr. Pardiwala’s statement:
“Wrestlers typically compete in a weight class below their natural weight. This gives them an advantage as they are fighting against less powerful opponents. The process of losing weight before the morning weigh-in involves a calculated restriction of food and water.
In addition, the athlete must sweat and this sweating occurs in the sauna and during training. This weight loss has the advantage of allowing you to achieve a lower weight, but leads to weakness and loss of energy, which is counterproductive to participation.
Therefore, most wrestlers then try to replenish their energy reserves with limited water intake and high-calorie food.
These are usually given as per the dietitian’s calculation which is tailored to the athlete and Vinesh’s dietitian felt that the usual amount she consumes in total throughout the day is around 1.5 kilograms which provides enough energy for the belly.
Sometimes weight gain occurs after a competition. Vinesh had three fights and therefore had to drink a certain amount of water to avoid dehydration.
In the morning, however, we discovered that despite all our efforts, her weight was 100 grams over her 50 kilogram weight class and she was therefore disqualified.
We tried all kinds of drastic measures all night, including cutting her hair and shortening her clothes, and despite all of that, we were unable to reach the 50 kg weight class after the disqualification.
As a precautionary measure, Vinesh has been given intravenous fluids to prevent dehydration. We also normally run a few blood tests to make sure everything is normal. This process takes place here at the local Olympic Hospital.
During this weight loss, all of Vinesh’s parameters were normal and she actually felt completely normal throughout the process.
We have just spoken to the IOA doctor and it was mentioned that although Vinesh is physically and medically perfectly normal, she is disappointed that this is her third Olympics and she had to be disqualified.’
