Coach feared Vinesh Phogat could die in her attempt to lose weight before final: report | Paris 2024 Olympics news
As details of the events the night before her second official weigh-in for the 50kg freestyle final continue to make headlines, her coach, Woller Akosreportedly said he feared for Vinesh’s life as she tried to lose the last few grams before weigh-in, but ended up 100 grams short and disqualified.
According to a report in the Indian Express, Akos posted his comments on Facebook and later deleted them.
The newspaper report quoted Akos from the now-deleted post, which was written in Hungarian: “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 single drop of sweat left on her. She had no choice, and from midnight to 5:30 a.m. she trained on various cardio machines and Wrestling movements, about forty-five minutes at a time, with a two to three minute break. Then she started again.”
According to the report, Akos further wrote that Vinesh “collapsed” before he could get back on his feet and go to the sauna again.
“She collapsed,” the trainer recalled. “But somehow we got her up and she spent an hour in the sauna. I’m not intentionally writing dramatic details, but I just remember thinking she might die.”
The post also included details of a conversation between Akos and Vinesh after she was discharged from hospital in Paris.
“We had an interesting conversation that evening when we came back from the hospital,” the coach wrote. “Vinesh Phogat said, ‘Coach, don’t be sad because you told me that when I am in a difficult situation and need extra energy, I should think that I have beaten the best wrestler (Yui Susaki of Japan in the round of 16) in the world. I have achieved my goal; I have proved that I am one of the best in the world. We have proved that the game plans work. Medals and podiums are just objects. Achievement cannot be taken away from you.'”
