The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) recently published its detailed report on Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat's controversial disqualification from the women's 50kg event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Let's take a closer look at some of the key findings and observations from the CAS verdict:
Phogat had to compete in three difficult bouts on the first day of competition and had little time between matches to recover and lose weight due to the distance between the venue and athletes' village. This placed the wrestler in a tough spot regarding making weight for the second day. Medical evidence also suggested Phogat was in her pre-menstrual phase, which can cause natural body weight fluctuations for female athletes according to literature cited in the case.
While recognizing the “draconian” nature of Phogat's punishment for being just 100 grams over the limit, CAS noted the rules do not provide exceptions for circumstances outside an athlete's control. Interesting arguments were made around the ambiguity in rules regarding a 2kg tolerance for “International Tournaments”, and whether this included the Olympics. However, CAS found the language in question did not cover the Games.
Perhaps most notably, CAS acknowledged the “logic” in restricting penalties only to the bout an athlete was deemed ineligible for, instead of full disqualification, given Phogat was eligible on the first competition day. Unfortunately, the existing regulations leave no room for such nuanced application.
In the end, while expressing sympathies with Phogat's situation, CAS reinforced sports arbitration is not about rewriting rules but about applying them as written. This breakdown aims to offer objective analysis of the complex issues addressed to gain a fuller understanding of this controversial case.
