Vinesh Phogat Makes LA Olympics Declaration With Big Retirement U-Turn
Vinesh Phogat, whose medal dream at the 2024 Paris Olympics came to a stunning end after she was found overweight on the day of her final bout, has announced that she is reversing her retirement decision
- Vinesh Phogat reversed her retirement after an 18-month break from wrestling
- She was disqualified at the 2024 Paris Olympics for being overweight before the final
- Phogat lost the chance to compete for gold against Sarah Ann Hildebrandt at Paris 2024
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat, whose medal dream at the 2024 Paris Olympics came to a stunning end after she was found overweight on the day of her final bout, has announced that she is reversing her retirement decision. She had announced her retirement on August 8, 2024. On Friday, Vinesh Phogat confirmed her return after an 18-month hiatus to chase her Olympic dream, stating that she has come out of retirement from professional wrestling.
Last year, Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling after being disqualified in the 50 kg freestyle final at the Paris Olympics. She had advanced to the gold medal bout by defeating Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez 5-0 in the semi-finals.
She was set to compete against the United States' Sarah Ann Hildebrandt for the gold medal but was disqualified for breaching the weight limit.
In an X post on Friday, Phogat wrote: "People kept asking if Paris was the end. For a long time, I didn't have the answer. I needed to step away from the mat, from the pressure, from the expectations, even from my own ambitions. For the first time in years, I allowed myself to breathe.
I took time to understand the weight of my journey - the highs, the heartbreaks, the sacrifices, the versions of me the world never saw. And somewhere in that reflection, I found the truth: I still love this sport. I still want to compete.
In that silence, I found something I'd forgotten: 'the fire never left'. It was only buried under exhaustion and noise. The discipline, the routine, the fight... it's in my system. No matter how far I walked away, a part of me stayed on the mat. So here I am, stepping back toward LA28 with a heart that's unafraid and a spirit that refuses to bow."
— Vinesh Phogat (@Phogat_Vinesh) December 12, 2025
Vinesh will now join the list of elite Indian athletes who returned to competition after childbirth. The Olympian, who is married to wrestler Somvir Rathee, welcomed a baby boy in July 2025.
"And this time, I'm not walking alone. My son is joining my team - my biggest motivation, my little cheerleader on this road to the LA Olympics."
In a fine career, Phogat secured two World Championships bronze medals (2019 and 2022), an Asian Games gold (2018) and bronze (2014), and three Commonwealth Games gold medals (2014, 2018, 2022). She was also a gold medalist at the 2021 Asian Championships and has won silver and bronze at the continental level.