‘Draconian’ rules but athlete responsible for maintaining weight: CAS ruling on Vinesh disqualification

The Court of Arbitration for Sport stated that it is up to the athlete to maintain the permissible weight while ruling out Vinesh Phogat’s appeal for a joint-Silver medal at the Paris Olympics. Phogat had weighed 49.90 kgs on the first day of her matches but she was overweight by 100 grams on her gold medal match, resulting in her disqualification.

The CAS admitted that the rules are harsh but in the end, every athlete is aware of them. Phogat had assured herself a medal after winning all her matches before the final but had to face heartbreak on the gold medal match day.

“A consequence of elimination without ranking from the round for which the Athlete was found ineligible, having been eligible for the rounds for which she competed, would seem to be a fairer solution,” the CAS order said.

“The problem for the Athlete is that the Rules are clear as to the weight limit and are the same for all participants. There is no tolerance provided for – it is an upper limit. It does not even allow for the weight of the singlet. It is clearly up to an athlete to ensure that they remain below that limit,” the order stated.

According to the Indian Olympic Association, United World Wrestling rules were ambiguous. The IOA claimed that UWW had mentioned rules for the male athletes but there were consequences mentioned for female athletes.

“Reading the Rules as a whole, the Sole Arbitrator concludes that the use of the word “he” was not intended to exclude female wrestlers from the application of the Rules or of Article 11; rather it was the use of a pronoun intended to cover all wrestlers, male and female,” the order stated.

After her disqualification, Phogat decided to call it a day on her wrestling career. However, the wrestler from Haryana has hinted that she might return to the mat again.