‘I ready for chaos, however that was…’: Gold medalist Sarah Ann Hildebrandt on Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from Paris Olympics | Paris Olympics 2024 Information

NEW DELHI: American wrestler Sarah Ann Hildebrandt gained the gold medal within the 50kg class on the Paris Olympics after Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified for being 100 grams chubby. Hildebrandt, who had been making ready for the ultimate, confronted an sudden state of affairs when Phogat was changed by Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, whom Hildebrandt finally defeated to safe the gold.
Phogat, aged 29, had been eradicated after the weigh-in for being chubby, resulting in her being substituted by Lopez, whom she had defeated within the semifinal. Hildebrandt, 30, who had beforehand gained a bronze on the Tokyo Video games, described the confusion she skilled through the weigh-in, initially mistaking Phogat’s absence for a forfeit.

“I ready for chaos, however that was not on my bingo card of chaos,” Hildebrandt was quoted as saying by PTI, explaining the sudden flip of occasions.

Hildebrandt thought Phogat had forfeited when she didn’t see her on the weigh-in.
“(Vinesh) wasn’t at weigh-ins, so I used to be in my head like, ‘Oh my gosh, this could be a risk.’ Then, we get the information that she did not make weight, and we had been below the impression that it was a forfeit. So, there was a whole lot of celebrating,” she recalled.

Nevertheless, she discovered that her celebration was untimely.
“It was very unusual, like ‘Oh my god, I simply gained the Olympics.’ Then an hour later, they had been like, ‘You didn’t win the Olympics.’ I am like, ‘Oh, that is very bizarre.’ So there needed to be a reset. I took a nap, awakened, and it was like a fever dream,” she added.

Phogat, who had moved to the 50kg class earlier this 12 months to compete within the Olympics, had taken excessive measures to make weight, together with staying hungry, avoiding fluids, and staying up all night time to sweat it out. Regardless of these measures, she was 100 grams over the restrict and have become dehydrated, necessitating IV fluids at a polyclinic within the Video games Village.