UPDATE: Vinesh Phogat was later disqualified from the 2024 Paris Olympics after failing to make weight on the morning of her gold medal bout.
In hindsight, none of Vinesh Phogat's opponents at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris stood a chance. Sure, they were among the best wrestlers, world and Olympic champions, all driven by whatever drives Olympic athletes to succeed.
But Vinesh was an unstoppable force driven by a superior power: she was fuelled not by the desire for mere sporting success, she was fighting for a larger cause. For her own reputation, for that of her fellow wrestlers who took on the system with her, for all athletes who had faced similar situations.
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Even so, her achievements on Tuesday were remarkable: In the space of seven hours, she beat the reigning Olympic and world champion, a two-time European Games medallist and a Pan-American Games champion to go where no Indian woman wrestler has gone before: the Olympic final, and an assured medal.
As incredible as those wins was how she did it. She had three carefully charted out strategies for her three opponents, beginning with the stunning win over Yui Susaki - unbeaten in her international career - via a defensive masterclass. Vinesh went into the bout looking at it as a final. She would have a shot at the bronze even if she lost to Susaki via the repechage system, but Vinesh was there for the gold.
As she walked to the mat, she looked well - there were no sunken eyes as is the case with most wrestlers who endure gruelling weight cuts the day before a competition. It was evident that Vinesh had managed her weight well - she was leaving nothing to chance.
Susaki has one of the strongest grips in her division - she practices speed skating and bouldering to strengthen her grip. But even that was not enough to get a move on Vinesh. Susaki went for a takedown on Vinesh's right leg, the same one that was operated on last year, but Vinesh was prepared. She was in the zone, saw it coming and lunged forward with her left leg to generate momentum and shift her weight to counter the takedown. It was a superb display of defence, not what you usually expect to see from a traditionally all-out-attack Vinesh. Susaki had never been kept quiet for so long.
Even Sakshi Malik, the only other Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal, was pleasantly surprised to see Vinesh's defensive nous. "This was not her normal style, Vinesh is usually an attacking wrestler," Sakshi told ESPN after the bout. "But Susaki is a very smart and experienced opponent so Vinesh switched it up today. She was very smart in how she fought against Susaki. She did not make any fake attacks, lest she commit a mistake and give Susaki an opening. That was an exceptional strategy."
With 19 seconds left, Vinesh switched gears and got on the aggressive. Susaki, frantically, darted around the mat. As she backtracked and was off-balance, Vinesh saw the moment. Twelve seconds left.
She knocked Susaki onto the mat and locked her in a back hold to complete the takedown. Vinesh maintained the grapple to run down the clock and script one of the biggest upsets in Olympic wrestling history.
The most striking aspect was not the takedown in the final 12 seconds, but the manner in which Vinesh defended against Susaki for the previous five minutes and 48 seconds. Susaki is not someone you can shut down like that - she hadn't conceded a single point at the Tokyo Olympics to win gold.
It was all part of Vinesh's masterplan...she teed it up perfectly to explode in the final few seconds. At the end, Susaki's stunned face, the picture of disbelief, was in perfect contrast to the ecstasy on Vinesh's face.
Was it risky? It sure was. But if anyone could pull it off, it was Vinesh. "Vinesh knew what she was doing. She was the one to beat Yuki Irie at the 2018 Asian Games to become the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. She showed Indian wrestlers that it was possible," says Anita Sheoran, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and the lone woman to contest last December for the president post of India's wrestling federation.
"It was so smart. Vinesh knew how she plays - no one has ever taken a point from Susaki at the Olympics. She is like current, like bijli. She never stops, doesn't let anyone touch her and attacks so quickly. I don't think any Indian wrestler fights so intelligently."
Vinesh returned to the mat around an hour later to face Ukraine's Oksana Livach in the quarterfinal. This time, a display of attacking wrestling followed.
Vinesh was back to her usual attacking self and dominated the bout. She bagged a takedown early on and bossed the bout for most parts. She even had a couple of chances to roll Livach over and wrap up the win... vintage Vinesh was back on display.
And Vinesh was clever in how she handled the contest. Leading 5-3 with 48 seconds to go, she conceded a point via a step out. It was always going to go against her, but she asked coach Woller Akos to challenge it. Vinesh lost the challenge and conceded another point. Was it risky? Absolutely. But again, it was all part of the ploy. It gave her 30 seconds to regroup and when the bout resumed, Vinesh collected another takedown to wrap up the contest.
It was a completely different strategy from the first bout, but it was what was needed. For Vinesh to be smart, switch up her plans, and do what it took to inch closer to that elusive medal.
Then came what was effectively the medal round, the semifinal vs Cuba's Guzman Lopez. Now she used a perfect blend of attack and defence. Vinesh also had a tiny advantage going into the semifinal: Lopez had been beaten by Oksana Livach in the repechage round of the Tokyo Olympics and Vinesh had just beaten the Ukrainian this afternoon.
Vinesh went about the fight with absolute poise. She held back and defended with her life for large parts and attacked ferociously when even the tiniest of cracks appeared in the Cuban's defense.
Vinesh, India's only woman wrestler to fight at three Olympics, evaded everything Guzman threw at her. She went after Vinesh's right leg repeatedly, but Vinesh simply wriggled out of the attempts. She let Guzman do the bulk of the attacking in the opening period and was content to hold back. It was all part of the ploy. At the break, coach Woller Akos said something to the tune of "creep low and attack the legs" and that was the brief Vinesh needed.
She went for a half-hearted attempt 20 seconds in but pulled herself back. The timing wasn't right. When she went again 17 seconds later, it was perfect. She grabbed onto Guzman's right leg for a takedown and a 30-second struggle later, she rolled her over for two more. Vinesh led 5-0...and that was it.
Speaking to this reporter in November 2023, Vinesh said: "The only thing I have told Bajrang and Sakshi is that I will still fight. I will look him [Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh] in the eye and medal leke aungi main, tu dekh [bring back a medal and show it to him]. They both have Olympic medals, I don't. I have a reason to fight. If I train well, I can win a medal. No one can stop me."
On Tuesday, Bajrang Punia, her fellow wrestler and comrade in the trenches through the past 18 months echoed those words to ESPN: "She told me "I am fighting for the future generation of wrestlers. Not for myself, my career is done and this is my last Olympics. I want to fight for the young women wrestlers who will come and fight for them so that they can wrestle safely. That's why I was in Jantar Mantar, and that's why I am here'."
On August 6, 2024 she came, she saw, she conquered.