Kishane Thompson

India still with no individual female gold medalist, ever: 'Everyone here is feeling as if someone in the family has died'

India still with no individual female gold medalist, ever: 'Everyone here is feeling as if someone in the family has died'

PARIS – In India, the female wrestler Vinesh Phogat is something of a national hero. She seemed on the edge Wednesday of becoming one of the great stories – anywhere – of 21st century Olympic history, one you would make a documentary about, or even a feature film with soaring background music.

In her case, since her family has already been the subject of one movie – a second Bollywood blockbuster.

The script, please, because as her Twitter/X bio reads, “One day, all of your hard work will pay off,” and as of Tuesday night, Vinesh Phogat had put herself in position to maybe be India’s first female individual Olympic gold medalist.

And then, Wednesday morning, she did not make weight.

Noah Lyles wins men's 100, and as he falls into her embrace, his mom says, 'I'm so proud'

Noah Lyles wins men's 100, and as he falls into her embrace, his mom says, 'I'm so proud'

Other races, other events, surely command attention. But it is the men’s 100 that produced track and field’s biggest name, Usain Bolt. It is the men’s 100 for which the stadium went dark Sunday night. The crowd went ooh and ahh for a light show.

Then the bright lights came back up.

All eight guys settled into the blocks.

And on this Sunday night, Noah Lyles would silence – after one of the great hype campaigns in American history – every critic.

By five-thousandths of a second.