Fire never left: Vinesh Phogat comes out of retirement, targets LA Olympics
The 31-year-old player left the sport after a heartbreak at last year’s Paris Games, where he was dramatically disqualified before the gold medal match in the 50kg category for being 100 grams over the allowed weight limit.
He had approached the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) seeking a joint silver medal, but the decision remained unchanged, leading him to announce his retirement and join politics to be elected as an MLA from Haryana’s Julana constituency.
In his post on his social media account, Vinesh said, “People kept asking if Paris was the last time. I couldn’t get an answer for a long time. I needed to get away from the mat, pressure, expectations, and even my own ambitions. For the first time in years, I allowed myself to breathe.”
“I took the time to understand the weight of my journey, the excitements, the heartbreaks, the sacrifices, the versions of myself that the world has never seen. And somewhere in that reflection I found the truth, I still love this sport. I still want to compete.”
She and her husband Somvir Rathee welcomed a baby boy into their family in July.
“In that silence I found something I had forgotten: ‘the fire never went away’. It was just buried under fatigue and noise. Discipline, routine, fighting… it’s all in my system. No matter how far I walked away, a part of me remained on the mat.” Vinesh said he will begin his journey towards LA28 with a renewed spirit and with his son by his side.
“Here I am, stepping back into LA28 with a heart that is unafraid and a spirit that refuses to bow. And this time I’m not walking alone, my son is joining my team, my biggest motivation is my little cheerleader on this path to the LA Olympics,” he added.
Vinesh made history by becoming the first Indian female wrestler to win a gold medal at the Olympics.
A three-time Olympian, he won gold medals at both the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.
