Vinesh Phogat has appealed to the Court of Arbitration Sports (CAS) against her disqualification in the final Gold medal match in the Paris Olympics and has pleaded that a silver medal must be reinstated to her.
The news of her disqualification has been doing the rounds across the internet for more than 24 hours now, and many opinions have surfaced. This article delves into how many athletes in the past have been able to reverse their disqualification and receive their much coveted Olympic medals.
The reason however can be differing from doping to age falsification that the IOC deemed to be fit. Here’s a list of athletes who have managed to restore their stripped medals.
Faith Kipyegon
Another case of disqualification that occurred in this edition of the Paris Olympics was when Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon was disqualified in the 5000-meter race in the Paris Olympics following an altercation with world record holder Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia. Tsegay tried to move to the front in the final 800 meters, however, the gold medal was clinched by Kipyegon's teammate Beatrice Chebet in the last 40 metres of the race.
Faith appealed against her disqualification which was overturned and she was given the silver medal.
Jim Thorpe-1912'
A sad yet, most notable event in Olympic history is when a medal was reinstated 30 years after American athlete Jim Thorpe’s death. Thorpe was stripped of his two medals in the 1912 Olympic edition in Stockholm after the IOC learned that he played amateur baseball before the Olympics.
According to reports, In 1913, it was discovered that he had played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics, violating the strict 'amateur' rules of the time.
His performance is said to dominate in both pentathlon and decathlon events leading him to win two gold medals in a single edition.
The turning point came in 1982 when researchers found that “Thorpe's disqualification had violated the IOC's own rules, which stated that objections to an athlete's eligibility had to be raised within 30 days of the Olympic ceremony. This revelation, along with changing attitudes towards amateurism, led the IOC to reinstate Thorpe's medals on October 13, 1982.”
In a 1983 ceremony, his children received his medals.
Vinesh’s disqualification'
Phogat’s disqualification came in when she was measured 100 grams overweight before her final Gold medal match on Wednesday. She was competing in the 50kg category and was found to be weighing 50.10 kg on the morning of the match.
Reacting to the situation, UWW president Nenad Lalovic said, "Rules are rules." He cited the international wrestling rule which disqualifies any wrestler from the competition and said, “We have to respect the rules.
The Rules are rules. I feel very sorry for her. She was overweight by a very small margin. The Weigh-in process is public, all the athletes are there. It's impossible to let someone who doesn't pass the weigh-in, participate.”
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