In a shocking turn of events, Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the 50kg final in Paris due to being 100 grams over the stipulated weight. As a result, her semi-final opponent, Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman, was given a spot in the final, where she faced American wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt and ultimately lost to her in the gold medal match.
Sarah Hildebrandt dominated the 50kg final at the Paris Olympics, defeating Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman 3-0 to claim the gold medal. In a surprising twist, the American wrestler revealed that she was initially told she had won gold after Vinesh Phogat missed weight, only to be instructed an hour later to get back on the mat to face Guzman in the final.
Hildebrandt described the situation as “chaotic” and credited her experience in Tokyo Olympics for helping her stay focused amidst the unexpected turn of events.
“She had an amazing day (Tuesday), did an insane feat and I don’t think she saw that happening — ending her Olympics like that — so, for sure, my heart goes out to her. She’s an amazing competitor, an amazing wrestler and person. It sucks, but at the end of the day it’s part of the job. We’ve all got to get it done…and I make sure my weight cut is in line, and it’s something I invest a lot of time in and it obviously pays off in the end.”
On the day of the final, Hildebrandt noticed something was amiss when Vinesh Phogat failed to turn up for the weight-ins that morning. Given that she had seen Vinesh at the sauna earlier, she suspected Phogat was struggling with the weight limit. “So I knew it was a possibility that (Vinesh) missed weight. I didn’t want to get wrapped up in it. Somebody was there on the floor to keep me updated.”
While heading to breakfast, Hildebrandt received a call informing her that she had won the gold medal. However, an hour later, she learned that Vinesh Phogat had been dropped to last place in the bracket, and she would be replaced in the finals by Guzman.
“It was like ‘psych! You’re not an Olympic champion’. It was such a roller coaster. I had to instantly refocus. My plans for the day were very specific when I was going to wrestle. But when I learnt that I needed to fight, the timeframes for things I needed to do had already gone past. It was crazy. It was chaos,” she recalled.