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Sarah Hildebrandt won the gold medal in women’s 50kg wrestling category after beating Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, and not the disqualified Vinesh Phogat. read more
 "Paris Olympics wrestling gold medallist sympathises with Vinesh Phogat")
Sarah Hildebrandt of USA celebrates after winning the gold medal in women's 50kg wrestling at Paris Olympics. She was due to face Vinesh Phogat before the Indian was disqualified. AP
In a chaotic moment for wrestling following Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Paris 2024 Olympics for being 100 grams over the weight limit, Sarah Hildebrandt found herself in an emotional whirlwind.
Paris Olympics: News, schedule, medals tally and more
She was set to compete against Vinesh for the women’s 50kg gold on Wednesday evening, and when news of Vinesh’s disqualification broke, Hildebrandt initially thought she had won the gold without stepping onto the mat for the final.
However, her moment of triumph was short-lived. Just an hour later, she received word that she would now face Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba, who had lost to Vinesh in the semifinals but was promoted from the bronze medal match to compete for the gold.
“There was a lot of celebrating," the 30-year-old Hildebrandt said. “It was very strange. ‘Oh my God, I just won the Olympics.’ And then an hour later, it was like, psych, you did not win the Olympics. I was like, ‘Oh, this is very weird.’ So there had to be a reset.”
Ultimately, Hildebrandt claimed the coveted gold medal by defeating Guzman Lopez 3-0 in the championship match, making her the fourth American woman to secure a wrestling gold.
Sympathising with Vinesh, the Olympic champion shared that she also employs various strategies to manage her weight for weigh-ins.
“As a big weight cutter myself, yeah, I feel for her,” Hildebrandt said. “She had an amazing day yesterday (Tuesday), did an insane feat and, you know, I don’t think she saw that happening, ending her Olympics like that. So, for sure, my heart goes out to her. I think she’s an amazing competitor, an amazing wrestler and person.”
Weight cutting is a common practice in wrestling, as athletes often compete in lower weight categories to gain a strength advantage. Unfortunately for Vinesh, who announced her retirement on Thursday, she couldn’t shed the extra weight by Wednesday morning.
After winning three bouts on Tuesday, she advanced to the final in the 50kg category. Attempts to cut weight, including trimming her hair, were insufficient, with Team India confirming she was 100 grams over the limit.
Phogat, who had previously stunned four-time world and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan, would have become the first Indian woman to compete for a wrestling gold medal. Instead, she left empty-handed, while Susaki later secured a bronze medal with a dominant 10-0 victory over Oksana Livach of Ukraine.
Hildebrandt, a bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, noted that her wildest experience prior to Wednesday involved a power outage that delayed her championship match by 30 minutes. “So this tops that,” she remarked. “But that was definitely the most insane thing. I’m at a loss for words for once.”
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English (US) ·