Yogeshwar Dutt lost in the quarterfinals of the men's freestyle 60kg division but dominated the repechage to win a bronze medal.
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Wrestling in India has always been a sport that generated plenty of good competitors. However, despite this, very few Indian grapplers have won Olympic medals. KD Jadhav was the first to do so when he won a bronze medal in 1952 but it was a dry spell for wrestling in India after that. Sushik Kumar broke the barren run and in 2012, India added a third wrestling Olympic medallist to their ranks. That man was Yogeshwar Dutt, who also won a bronze medal but in the men’s freestyle 60kg division. His performance was one of grit and determination that saw him win via the repechage.
Today we look back at how India gained its third wrestling Olympic medallist.
Dutt was a well-known entity in the wrestling world by the time the London Olympics came around. However, despite being a consistent presence in world wrestling events, an Olympic medal eluded him.
He made his Olympic debut in 2004 at Athens but didn’t make much of an impact. Come the Beijing Olympics in 2008, however, and he was a more well-rounded competitor.
Yet success continued to elude him. He made it to the quarterfinals but suffered a loss to Japan’s Kenichi Yumoto. However, coming so close to a win only spurred him on further.
There was also the fact that compatriot Sushil Kumar won a bronze medal that year which motivated Dutt to do better when he next got the chance.
But his road to London was not an easy one. In 2009 he suffered a massive knee injury that was potentially a career ender. Despite that, he won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Olympics but remained in pain and doubt over his career.
In fact, after he won the Commonwealth gold medal, he suffered another injury setback – this time in his back. Yet by the time the 2012 Olympics rolled around, he was ready for the event.
Dutt’s climb to the top was not an easy one, however. He made a winning start to proceedings, seeing off Bulgaria’s Anatolie Ilarionovitch Guidea 3-1 in the first match.
However, he was beaten soundly by Russia’s Besik Kudukhov in the quarterfinals. Kudukhov was a four-time world champion but the loss did put Dutt’s medal hopes in some doubt.
Yet Kudukhov making it to the final meant Dutt was in the repechage rounds and could win a bronze medal if he went all the way.
But there was yet another issue at hand for Dutt – his eye. The match against the Russian left him with a swollen eye that did partially compromise his vision.
Now, he would have to take on some of the world’s best wrestlers while not being able to properly see in front of him. It was far from ideal but the issue didn’t enter the wrestler’s mind.
“In the Olympics we can’t worry about injuries. We have to get out and fight,” he said. And that is exactly what he did.
He beat Puerto Rico’s Franklin Gomez and Iran’s Masoud Esmaeilpour in the first and second repechage rounds. Now there was only one win standing between him and a medal. His opponent? North Korea’s North Korea’s Ri Jong-Myong.
The first round went Myong’s way but Dutt showed plenty of fight to take the second. With the scored tied at 1-1, a deciding final round was underway.
Both wrestlers were circumspect at first but Dutt eventually managed to lock in his signature move, which involved locking his opponent’s leg and rolling him around.
There was no coming back from that for Myong. And Yogeshwar Dutt had done it. He was an Olympic medallist.
