It’s 8 am in Paris, and the walk to the Grand Palais Ephemere is fraught with tension. It’s been two days since dieticians and nutritionists, and a whole bevy of support staff are trying desperately to knock off first, two kilos two days before, and finally the stubborn 100 gms of weight from a lithe, slim body that will participate in the Palais’ large arena and ramp later in the day.
The team has tried everything on extreme weight-cutting measures, from keeping her awake all night, making her jog and skip without interruption to produce more sweat, denying water as dehydration leads to weight loss; no loading on carbohydrates, and intense exercising, including saunas and body suits to drain every drop of water in the body.
In desperation, they even cut her hair and shortened her singlet but to no avail. She was not allowed to participate in the coming go for the gold event.
Is this the backstage of a Christian Dior couture show in Paris fashion week where waif-thin models float around in a whiff of chiffon, waiting to hit the ramp, with not an extra cellulite bump or bulge to show? No, it’s the grand stage for the Paris Olympics finals of the wrestling bout in the 50 kg weight category, where India’s champ and gold medal hopeful, the 29-year-old Vinesh Phogat, was disqualified for weighing a mere 100 gms more than is permissible in the international competition.
For years, the beauty business has been in the glare of harsh scrutiny for its demanding cruelty of the body beautiful, of anorexic models, bulimia and terrifying eating disorders. Even as agents, fashion magazine editors, photographers, and designers demand a Size Zero as the nub of a perfect body, sending a whole generation of impressionable girls into a psychotic spin of depression as they try to achieve the impossible, photo-shopped fake perfect bodies.
How has the wrestling arena escaped this scrutiny where the demands on the body are so excruciatingly painful and terrifying for the participant? For example, after Phogat’s two-day agonising regimen to lose the weight she had gained, she was rushed to the hospital after the final weigh-in suffering from dehydration, fatigue and exhaustion. Phogat was finally declared stable after a few hours when she also dejectedly announced her retirement from wrestling competition.
Should the United World Wrestling (UWW) seriously consider taking a re-look at the conditions to participate in various categories? It’s not a gender lopsided demand – male wrestlers too have to go through this demanding gruel to stay within the weight category.
For instance, Aman Sehrawat, who won the bronze in the 57 kg category, weighed over 4.6 kg over the permitted limit, barely 10 hours before the competition, sending his coaches into a tizzy. Sehrawat underwent a punishing regimen – according to media reports, Sehrawat had intermittent wrestling bouts with his coaches, hour-long hot baths and treadmill running, light jogging and lemon honey and coffee to drink. He finally weighed 100 gms less than required, though he said he didn’t sleep the night before, watching videos of wrestling bouts the whole night.
So, why does the UWW make such ridiculous demands of a competitor? First, a weight category underlines the bottom line so that combat sports athletes don’t have any undue advantage over a lesser-weighing competitor. Fair enough, but does 100 gm give the combatant any advantage? Apparently, the UWW allows a leeway of two kilos in the World Cup, but not in the Olympic Games.
Also, the UWW moved from a one-day to a two-day weigh-in system so that it could control the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and more importantly, look at the horrific consequences of extreme weight cutting as the two-day weigh-in now allows wrestlers to rehydrate and recover from overnight weight changes. Some of the effects on the body include motor issues, dizziness, hormonal changes in women, impact on sleep and effects on kidneys, and even death.
In 1997, as media reports point out, “Three USA collegiate wrestlers made national headlines, dying from the same cause – weight cutting within 33 days of each other. In all three cases, the students experienced dehydration resulting in hypothermia after they layered on clothes and did endless workouts in heated rooms. Unfortunately, they outworked their bodies. The perspiration they produced cooled them to the point of hypothermia resulting in heart attacks and kidney failure, all common effects of extreme weight cutting.”
Now the world knows what happened with Vinesh – her normal weight range is 57, but the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) did not allow her to compete in the more manageable 53 kg as someone else had taken the slot; which is why the 50kg category was so challenging for her. The WFI said 50 kg or nothing at the Paris Olympics.
A bloody sport
Vinesh along with Sakshi Malik, and other wrestlers had also last year, taken on BJP MP and former chief of the WFI Brij Bhushan in a much-publicised protest for alleged sexual harassment. The Narendra Modi government refused to investigate and in fact, Bhushan’s close aide was elected the new president. It’s another matter that Bhushan’s son was given a parliamentary ticket by Modi’s BJP for his father’s Kaiserganj seat in UP, which the former won by over a lakh votes.
Vinesh Phogat being detained. Photo: Vipin Kumar/National Herald
It seems the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) clearly dumped Phogat, according to lawyer Rahul Mehra – it was the Games’ pro bono lawyers who first appealed on behalf of Phogat to review the decision to disqualify her, the IOA finally hired senior lawyer Harish Salve to represent it, while PT Usha, president of IOA squarely blamed Phogat for the 100 gms weight gain even as the Court of Arbitration (CAS) was hearing the appeal. Indian officials look more as if it is sabotaging rather than assisting the appeal.
The fashion empire has seen a feeble attempt to ban body shaming and include curvier and plus-size bodies, clothes and shops, but a survey by Vogue Business which releases a biannual Body Inclusivity Report which calculates sizes that are seen on catwalks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, the report for Spring/Summer 2024 reveals that of the 9,584 looks across 230 shows only 0.9% were plus size US 14 or above – the average size of an American woman; only 3.9% was mid-size of US 6-12; as much as 95.2% of looks presented were in the unattainable size of US 0-4.
As an industry watcher says, brands use a few curvy models to deflect criticism, called “fat washing” as akin to “green washing” when destructive industries talk of carbon footprints, sustainability and empty climate pledges.
Yet, it’s time to put the spotlight on wrestlers and the punishing and deadly demands on their bodies, where even an extra 50 gms can disqualify the contestant in an international game. This is a blood sport, not a sport. The UWW must change its body-blaming rules to allow contestants a healthy choice to compete, not put sportspersons to gruelling and life-threatening qualifying regimens.
Phogat going for gold was beaten by a measly 100 gms of fat. The CAS’ verdict slammed the final nail in the controversy – Phogat’s appeal to consider her for at least a silver was rejected. As it says, you can never be too rich, or too thin.
