The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has determined that athletes must strictly adhere to their weight limits, without exceptions, as it explained its dismissal of Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s appeal against her disqualification from the Paris Olympics final in the 50kg event. Additionally, the CAS arbitrator labelled the UWW weighing rule as “draconian”.
On August 14, an ad-hoc division of CAS dismissed Phogat’s appeal, following her disqualification from the final for being 100 grams overweight — a ruling that sparked strong criticism from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). On Monday, CAS released a detailed statement outlining the reasons behind its decision to reject her appeal.
“The issue for the Athlete is that the Rules are explicit regarding the weight limit and apply equally to all participants. There is no room for tolerance — it is a strict upper limit, with no allowances even for the weight of the singlet. Athletes are responsible for ensuring they remain within this limit,” stated CAS.
“There is no question that the Applicant exceeded the weight limit, a fact she acknowledged during the hearing. Her argument was that the excess weight was a minor 100 grams, which she attributed to factors like water intake and water retention, especially during the pre-menstrual phase,” CAS noted. Phogat, 29, was disqualified on the day of the women’s 50kg freestyle final.
The decision on her appeal was issued after three delays. In her appeal, Phogat requested that she be awarded a joint silver medal with Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who had lost to her in the semifinals, but was advanced to the final after Phogat’s disqualification. The gold medal was won by American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.