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Vinesh Phogat (; born 25 August 1994) is an Indian freestyle wrestler and politician. She currently serves as the MLA of Julana constituency in Haryana, representing the Indian National Congress. A two-time World Championships bronze medalist, she is a former Asian champion, Asian Games gold medalist and a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist. Vinesh is the only Indian woman wrestler to have won gold at both the Asian and Commonwealth Games. She is a three-time Olympic Games, having represented India at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Olympics.
During the early years, Phogat's father and uncle had to deal with opposition from the community in their village to help her and her cousins pursue competitive wrestling as they were judged to be going against the morals and values of their community. When she was nine years old, her father was shot dead in front of their house by a relative of her family.
On 13 December 2018, she married fellow wrestler Somvir Rathee from Jind district. Both of them worked for the Indian Railways and have known each other since 2011.
Phogat won a bronze medal in the 48 kg category at the 2014 Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea. She defeated Yongmi of North Korea in the first round before she overcame Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals. She lost to Eri Tosaka of Japan in the semi-finals by a scoreline of 1–3. She won the bronze medal after she beat Narangerel Eredenesukh of Mongolia by Technical fall in the repechage bout. She won the silver medal in the 2015 Asian Championships held at Doha, Qatar after she was unable to beat Yuki Irie of Japan in the finals.
Phogat made a comeback and participated in the 50 kg category in her second Commonwealth Games in 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia. In the event which was held in round-robin format, she won all her matches to secure her second gold medal across the Commonwealth Games. In the subsequent 2018 Asian Games at Jakarta, she competed in the 50 kg category. She avenged her loss against Sun Yanan of China in the round of 16 before she beat Kim Hyung-joo of South Korea in the quarterfinals and Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan in the semifinals. In the finals, she beat Japan's Yuki Irie to win the gold medal. She became first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games. In the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships, she won a bronze medal by defeating Qianyu Pang of China. In the subsequent 2019 Yasar Dogu Tournament, Phogat won the gold medal by defeating Ekaterina Poleshchuk of Russia in the final.
In the 2019 World Wrestling Championships, she won the bronze medal in the 53 kg category after she defeated Maria Prevolaraki in the bronze medal match. She also became the first Indian wrestler to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 by virtue of her top six finish in the tournament. In January 2020, she won the gold medal in the Rome Ranking Series after she defeated Luisa Valverde in the finals. Phogat was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019 and was the first Indian to get a nomination for the award.
In August 2021, she headed to compete in the women's 53 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics as the world number one. Though she defeated Sofia Mattsson of Sweden in the first round, she was beaten by Belarusian Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the quarterfinals. Soon after the Olympics, she was suspended by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for indiscipline citing that she had refused to train with her Indian teammates at the Olympics Village and had not worn the official Indian kit at the Olympics. As WFI expressed its disapproval of private partners, she issued an apology on the matter. In November 2021, WFI prevented private NGOs from signing contracts with and training wrestlers without its approval, leading to Phogat losing her private contract with Jindal Steel.
In the women's 53kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, she bagged the gold medal after she won all her bouts. In the 53kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, she won her second World Championship bronze medal. She lost her first round bout against Batkhuyagiin Khulan of Mongolia, but won three straight games in the repechage rounds to win the bronze.
As Antim Panghal had secured an Olympic quota in the 53 kg weight class, Phogat competed in the lower 50 kg weight class at the 2024 Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and earned a quota place for the 50 kg category in the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the first round of the Paris Olympics, she defeated reigning Olympic and world champion Yui Susaki of Japan, who had not conceded a single point to an opponent in the Tokyo Olympics. The match was a cagey affair with Susaki leading 2–0 through two penalty points until the final few seconds when the Indian effected a takedown and scored an upset win. Phogat beat Oksana Livach of Ukraine in the quarterfinals and Yusneylys Guzmán of Cuba in the semifinals by point decisions to qualify for the final. However, Phogat was later disqualified for being above the stipulated weight during the weigh-in on the morning of the finals. As a result, she was relegated to last place in the classification.
After her disqualification, Phogat announced that she had appealed against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). She had demanded that she be awarded the joint silver medal in the event as she was within the legal weight limits during the first day of the bout. She also announced her retirement from the sport with immediate effect. In a short verdict, the CAS dismissed the petition requesting a joint silver medal.
In December 2025, Phogat announced her return to competitive wrestling with the goal of qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, nearly 18 months after retiring following the 2024 Paris Olympics. Announcing her comeback, Phogat stated that time away from the sport helped her rediscover her passion for wrestling.
Subsequent to her joining the party, the Indian National Congress fielded Phogat as their candidate from the Julana assembly constituency for the 2024 Haryana Legislative Assembly election. Political analysts claimed that since a significant number of Haryana's farmers are from Jat community, which has been against the BJP over the demand for a legal guarantee of a Minimum Support Price (MSP), the entry of Phogat in Congress could help them consolidate its Jat votes. On 8 October 2024, when election results were announced, Congress could not secure a victory in the state, but Phogat won her seat, defeating BJP candidate Yogesh Kumar by over 6,000 votes.
After a full month of protest, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports instructed Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in May to suspend WFI and appoint an ad-hoc panel to oversee the functions of Indian wrestling. The panel was also instructed to hold elections for the appointment of a new WFI chief within 45 days. On 28 May 2023, Phogat, Sakshi, Bajrang and other protesting wrestlers were detained by the Delhi Police when they were marching towards the Indian Parliament to organize a protest for their call of arresting Brij Bhushan.
In August 2023, the United World Wrestling (UWW) suspended WFI's membership due to its failure in organizing elections for the post of WFI chief. This restricted India's ability to field wrestlers under the Indian flag in international wrestling events. The elections for WFI chief and 14 other posts were finally organized on 21 December 2023. Sanjay Singh, accused to be a close aide of Brij Bhushan Singh, sweeped the elections winning 13 out of 15 posts. After outrage by Phogat and other protesting wrestlers, on 24 December 2023 the Sports Ministry suspended the newly elected WFI body led by Sanjay Singh citing the disregard for established policies and procedures. In March 2024, the IOA suspended ad-hoc committee that was overseeing the operations of WFI, leading to Sanjay Singh assuming full charge of WFI. Phogat, Bajrang, and other protesting wrestlers challenged it in court, and the Delhi High Court passed an order in their favor on 16 August 2024 asking IOA to put its ad-hoc committee back in charge of WFI until the Union government recalled its suspension order formally.
| 53 kg | Pak Yong-mi | +3 |
| 53 kg | Mayu Mukaida | –3 |
| 53 kg | Pang Qianyu | 0 |
| 53 kg | Lannuan Luo | +1 |
| 55 kg | Zhang Qi | +1 |
| 53 kg | Maria Prevolaraki | +1 |
| 53 kg | Sofia Mattsson | +1 |
| 53 kg | Nina Hemmer | +1 |
| 53 kg | Iryna Husyak | +1 |
| 53 kg | Yuliya Khalvadzhy | +1 |
| 53 kg | Aktenge Keunimjaeva | +1 |
| 53 kg | Tatyana Amanzhol | 0 |
| 53 kg | Sarah Hildebrandt | +2 |
| 53 kg | Vanesa Kaladzinskaya | 0 |
| 53 kg | Zhuldyz Eshimova | 0 |
| 53 kg | Jessica Blaszka | +1 |
| 53 kg | Luisa Valverde | +1 |
| 53 kg | Jo Cin Chiu | +1 |
| 53 kg | Natalia Malysheva | 0 |
| 53 kg | Amy Fearnside | +2 |
| 53 kg | Ekaterina Poleshchuk | +2 |
| 48 kg | Yuki Irie | +1 |
| 48 kg | Eri Tosaka | –2 |
| 48 kg | Nanami Irie | –1 |
| 48 kg | Erdenesukh Narangerel | 0 |
| 48 kg | Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova | +4 |
| 48 kg | Byambazaya Tsogtbaatar | +2 |
| 48 kg | Lee yo-mi | 0 |
| 48 kg | Kim Hyung-joo | +2 |
| 48 kg | Iwona Matkowska | +1 |
| 48 kg | Evin Demirhan | +1 |
| 48 kg | Oksana Livach | +1 |
| 48 kg | Alina Vuc | +1 |
| 48 kg | Nataliya Pulkovska | +1 |
| 48 kg | Victoria Anthony | -1 |
| 48 kg | Chun Lei | -1 |
| 48 kg | Kim Hyon-gyong | -1 |
| 2016 | Rio de Janeiro | 48 kg | L 1R-2 | Quarterfinal | 10 | |
| 2020 | Tokyo | 53 kg | L 3–9F | Quarterfinal | 9 | |
| 2024 | Paris | 50 kg | Final |
| 2013 | Budapest | 51 kg | L 3–6 | Round of 16 | 10 | |
| 2015 | Las Vegas | 48 kg | L 4–8 | Round of 32 | 22 | |
| 2017 | Paris | 48 kg | L 4-6F | Round of 16 | 10 | |
| 2019 | Nur-Sultan | 53 kg | W 4–1 | Repechage | ||
| 2022 | Belgrade | 53 kg | W 8–0 | Repechage |
| 2014 | Incheon | 48 kg | L 4–6 | Repechage | ||
| 2018 | Jakarta | 50 kg | W 6–2 | Final |
| 2014 | Glasgow | 48 kg | W 11–8 | Final | ||
| 2018 | Gold Coast | 50 kg | W 13–3 | Round-robin | ||
| 2022 | Birmingham | 53 kg | W 2–0 | Round-robin |
| 2014 | New Delhi | 51 kg | W 4–2 | Repechage | ||
| 2015 | Doha | 48 kg | L 2–3 | Final | ||
| 2016 | Bangkok | 53 kg | W 9F-4 | Repechage | ||
| 2017 | New Delhi | 55 kg | L 4–8 | Final | ||
| 2018 | Bishkek | 50 kg | L 2–3 | Final | ||
| 2019 | Xi'an | 53 kg | W 8–1 | Repechage | ||
| 2020 | New Delhi | 53 kg | W 10–0 | Repechage | ||
| 2021 | Almaty | 53 kg | W 6F-0 | Finals |
In December 2024, Vinesh Phogat was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.
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