Vinesh is the daughter of wrestler Rajpal Phogat and cousin of wrestlers Geeta and Babita.[6][7] Both her cousins have won a gold in the 55 kg category at the Commonwealth Games.
By allowing her cousins and her to pursue competitive wrestling, her father and uncle had to deal with immense pressure and opposition from the community in their village in Haryana. They were judged to be going against the morals and values of their community.[8] Her cousin, Ritu Phogat, is also an international level wrestler and won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.
On 13 December 2018, she married her long-time boyfriend and fellow wrestler Somvir Rathee of Bakhta Khera village of Jind district,[9][10] who is a two-time gold medalist at the national championships.[11] The couple have known each other since 2011 and both work for the Indian Railways where they met and fell in love.[12][11]
In world championship 2019, she bagged her maiden world championship medal (a bronze).[14] She bagged a Gold at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in 2018 in the 50 kg category.[15] In the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series in Rome, the 26 year old defeated Canada's Diana Mary Helen Weicker 4–0 in the 53 kg final.[16]
In the first round, Vinesh won 3:1 against Nanami Irie of Japan. She then lost 1:3 in the quarter-finals to Tatyana Amanzhol of Kazakhstan who qualified for the final thus qualifying the Indian grappler for the repechage round.[17]
2013 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships
In an exclusive tournament held in Johannesburg, South Africa, Vinesh finished second and won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category, losing in the final round to Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria.[18]
In the quarter-finals, Vinesh faced Rosemary Nweke of Nigeria and beat her 5–0. Her semi-finals opponent was Jasmine Mian of Canada whom she beat 4–1. In the gold medal bout, she faced home favourite Yana Rattigan of England and won the gold medal, beating her 3–1.[20]
In the Round of 16, Vinesh faced Yongmi Pak from the People's Republic of Korea and beat her 3–1. Her quarter-finals opponent was Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan whom she overcame easily with a 5–0 scoreline. She lost 1–3 in the semi-finals to Eri Tosaka of Japan but qualified for the bronze medal bout and beat Narangerel Eredenesukh of Mongolia to win 10-0 easily after the referee stopped the bout (classification points 4:0).[22]
Phogat bagged her third consecutive gold in the women's 53 kg category after winning the Poland Open wrestling tournament in Warsaw.[citation needed]
2019 World Wrestling Championships
Phogat bagged a maiden World Championship medal in the women's 53 kg category after pinning Maria Prevolaraki in the Bronze medal match. She became the first Indian wrestler to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 by virtue of her top six finish.
[28]
2020 season
In January 2020, Phogat won gold in the Rome Ranking Series, defeating Luisa Elizabeth Valverde (4-0).[29]
2021
Phogat defeated the 2017 world champion Vanesa Kaladzinskaya to win the gold medal at the Outstanding Ukrainian Wrestlers and Coaches Memorial tournament held in Kiev in February 2021.[30] Phogat won the gold medal at the 2021 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event and reclaimed her world number one rank.[31]
In August 2021, she competed in the women's 53 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics where she was defeated in the quarterfinals by Belarusian Vanesa Kaladzinskaya.[34] Soon after the Olympics, she was suspended by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for indiscipline as she had refused to train with her Indian teammates at the Olympics Village and had not worn the official Indian kit at the Olympics.[35] Phogat issued an apology to the WFI, even as the WFI expressed its disapproval of private NGOs like JSW Sports and Olympic Gold Quest, which WFI believed were "spoiling" Indian wrestlers by the way they were handling and training them.[36] 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 JSW Sports.[37]
Vinesh Phogat including thirty Indian wrestlers, Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik, Anshu Malik, and Bajrang Punia, among others, organised a protest in January 2023(2023 Indian wrestlers' protest) and demanded the dissolution of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) after it was alleged that its coaches and president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, had been harassing female players sexually for years. The government's pledge to form an oversight committee to look into the claims caused the protests to be cancelled in January 2023.[44][45] In April 2023, the protesting wrestlers returned to their rallies, claiming that the government was doing nothing.[46]
In a second phase of protest, which happened in April 2023, She said that after reporting Bhushan to Prime Minister Modi and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, she was "mentally harassed, tortured, and threatened to be killed."[47][48]