CHENNAI: On Tuesday night, India's sporting fraternity was celebrating a wrestler on the verge of history. Riding an emotional high, the grappler had the chance to become the first Indian woman to win Olympic gold.
As Wednesday dawned in the national capital, another Indian woman to have made history at the Games, Manu Bhaker, landed home. She was given a welcome befitting her achievements. Irrespective of the result of the gold-medal bout late on Wednesday, the 29-year-old would have had designs on a similar welcome. Battered and dragged through Delhi's streets after she became the public face of protests against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, this was all set to be a storybook-worthy coronation.
Yet, the ecstasy of Tuesday night very quickly became a full-blown nightmare by Wednesday afternoon. What happened in a corner of the wrestling hall in Paris had repercussions halfway across the globe in Delhi. As soon as she was DQ'ed after the weigh-in (she failed to make weight by 100 grams in 50kg category), political parties on both sides of the aisle started sharpening knives to further their agendas.
Some of the country's leading elected officials staged a protest outside Parliament as they demanded an immediate inquiry into the situation in Paris. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose X feed maintained radio silence on Tuesday night, posted his commiserations. Other members of the Bharatiya Janata Party sang from the same hymn sheet (to be fair, a few of them did post congratulatory messages on Tuesday).
Once the commiserations and the suddenness of the moment passed by, conspiracy theories that wouldn't have been out of place in a three-day, alt-right get-together, received significant air-time on social media. People whose primary job was to fact-check allowed their emotions to run amok. On TV, a news anchor showed their political stance. Elsewhere, an Indian Olympic medallist, reminded everyone that the wrestler should also share some blame.
Even as the head of the UWW reminded that 'them's the rules', a few people pointed to Kenya's successful protest against the initial disqualification handed to Faith Kipyegon in the women's 5000m in athletics. That was the right decision and Kipyegon got to keep her silver as people increasingly kept missing the trees for the forest (or mixing between wrestling and athletics, in this case).
When PT Usha, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president, and Dinshaw Pardiwala, Chief Medical Officer of the Indian contingent, appeared on video to explain what had happened, people weren't ready to buy their explanation. In a free-for-all, disinformation took the first flight out and spread like wildfire. Actual news, as usual, took the last train out and moved like a snail. Multiple people suggested that a team comprising of doctors, PhDs and Olympians didn't know how sporting events worked. A few wanted to teach sports science to sports scientists.
All of them took leave of their senses. In the middle of this collective fury and rage in India, a 29-year-old was at a facility inside the Games Village in Paris after pulling out an all-nighter in the hope of fulfilling a childhood dream. Broken in mind, body and soul but she was managing a feeble smile in one of the first photos to be circulated by the IOA following a day from hell.
Vinesh Phogat.
