Who Is Aman Sehrawat? 21YO Wrestler Dedicates Bronze To Late Parents

Aman Sehrawat won a bronze medal in the men's 57kg wrestling event at the Paris Games 2024, scripting history as the youngest Olympic medallist from the nation. The 21-year-old Olympic debutant dominated over Puerto Rico's Darian Toi Cruz 15-3, to win India its fifth consecutive Olympic medal in wrestling. He made it to the semi-finals after a 12-0 win over Albania's Zelimkhan Abakanov. While he was ousted by the eventual gold medallist Rei Higuchi of Japan 10-0, Sehrawat reclaimed his spot on the podium on the August 9 match.

Aman Sehrawat's Story

"This medal is for my parents. They don't even know that I became a wrestler, that there's something called as Olympics," expressed an emotional Aman Sehrawat, who lost both his parents to medical conditions when he was 11 years old. He got into the sport about a year after the devastating loss.

Aman Sehrawat stayed with his uncle, who enrolled him into Chhatrasal, a residential wrestling school that has produced some of the best athletes and Olympic medallists in India. The coaches reportedly took him in out of sympathy and did not believe the scrawny, shy tween had the potential to become a wrestler.

However, Sehrawat moulded himself to the rigorous training in no time. His coach Lalit Kumar remarked in an interview with the Indian Express, "He didn't choose wrestling. Wrestling chose him." By 2018, he began competing professionally and won his first medal at the World Cadet Championship.

Since then, Sehrawat has been unstoppable. He won several bouts on the international stage, including gold medals at the Under-23 Asian and World Championships, a bronze medal at the 2022 Asian Games, and several titles in the Grand Prix. These made him a great contender at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Sehrawat Had To Lose About 5KG Before The Match

Aman Sehrawat competed in the 57 kg category at the Paris Olympics. However, a night before his bronze-winning match, his coaches were unsure if he would be eligible to compete as he was over 4.6 kilograms overweight. This would lead to disqualification, like for Vinesh Phogat, who had made it to the final in women's 50kg wrestling but was eliminated for weighing about 100 grams more.

Vijender Dahiya, the Indian wrestling team's coach, said that Sehrawat did everything in his capacity to retain his weight in the 57kg mark. He had only 10 hours to lose about 5 kilograms. Sehrawat started with one and a half hours on the mat, engaging in standing wrestling with his coaches. He then went for an hour-long hot batch session, followed by an hour-long treadmill run at the gym. 

Sehrawat then took up light jogging and 15-minute running sessions. He consumed lukewarm water with lemon and honey and some coffee to drink. He also took up five sauna sessions in between to lose weight by sweating. By 4:30 a.m., Sehrawat weighed 56.9kg, bringing a sigh of relief to the Indian wrestling team at the Olympics. Vijender Dahiya said, "Weight cutting is routine, normal for us but there was tension, a lot of tension due to what happened the other day (with Vinesh). We could not let slip another medal."