Vinesh Phogat’s coach Woller Akos has finally opened up on the Indian wrestler’s grueling weight loss process that left him feeling like the Indian athlete “might die”. Vinesh was 2.7 kg overweight following her semifinal win in the 50 kg category at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the final scheduled for the next day.

The 29-year-old wrestler tried everything she could to reduce her weight overnight before the weigh-in, but was disqualified because she was 100 grams overweight.

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In a Facebook post, Hungarian Akos Vinesh described his intense struggle to lose excess weight and the anxiety it caused him. The Facebook post has since been deleted, reported the Indian Express.

“After the semifinals, she was still 2.7 kg overweight. We trained for an hour and twenty minutes, but there was still 1.5 kg left. Later, after 50 minutes in the sauna, there was not a drop of sweat left. She had no choice and from midnight to 5:30 in the morning she trained on various cardio machines and wrestling exercises, about 45 minutes at a time, with two to three minutes breaks. Then she started again. She collapsed, but somehow we managed to get her up and she spent an hour in the sauna. I am not intentionally writing dramatic details, but I just remember thinking she might die,” wrote Woller Akos.

He added that after her disqualification, Vinesh put on a brave face and said that although she had not managed to win a medal, no one could take away her achievement.

“We had an interesting conversation that evening when we came back from the hospital. Vinesh Phogat said, ‘Coach, don’t be sad because you told me that when I get into a difficult situation and need extra energy, I should think that I have beaten the best wrestler (Japan’s Yui Susaki) in the world. I have achieved my goal and proved that I am one of the best in the world. We have proved that game plans work. Medals and podiums are just objects. Achievement cannot be taken away from you,'” Akos added.

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“We will continue to be proud that our professional program was able to beat the best female wrestler in the world and bring an Indian female wrestler to the Olympic final for the first time in history,” he wrote, highlighting Vinesh’s victory over world number one Yui Suaski in the first round.

For Tokyo gold medalist Susaki, this was her first defeat in international wrestling.

Still, to highlight what the medal meant to Vinesh, Akos recalled her conversation with Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia during the wrestlers’ protest.

“Vinesh had pleaded with Sakshi and Bajrang not to throw their hard-earned Olympic medals into the river. She pleaded with them to keep them because they were special. But they explained to her that the journey was important and her achievement was not defined by medals,” he said.