“No Tolerance…”: CAS Justifies Its Decision for Rejecting Vinesh Phogat’s Appeal

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that athletes must adhere strictly to their weight limits, with no exceptions allowed, following the rejection of Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s appeal against her disqualification from the Paris Olympics final. On August 14, an ad-hoc division of the CAS rejected Vinesh’s appeal concerning her disqualification for being 100 grams overweight—a decision that received a strong reaction from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The CAS published a detailed decision on August 19, explaining the reasons for the rejection.

“The problem for the Athlete is that the Rules are clear as to the weight limit and are the same for all participants. There is no tolerance provided for – it is an upper limit. It does not even allow for the weight of the singlet. It is clearly up to an athlete to ensure that they remain below that limit,” the CAS stated.

“There is no dispute that the Applicant was above the weight limit. She gave the above evidence clearly and directly at the hearing. Her case is that the amount of excess was 100g and that a tolerance should apply as this is a small excess and explicable for reasons such as drinking water and water retention, in particular during the pre-menstrual phase.”

The 29-year-old Vinesh was disqualified on the morning of the women’s 50kg freestyle final.

The decision on her appeal followed three postponements. In her appeal, Vinesh requested to be awarded a joint silver medal with Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to her in the semifinals but was promoted to the final due to Vinesh’s disqualification. The gold medal was claimed by American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.