Vinesh Phogat, who announced her retirement from wrestling, has earned a reputation that places her above and beyond her sport - the events of the past 18 months have cemented her legacy as an icon of her times.
But it's important to remember that before all that, she was one of India's best ever wrestlers. Fast, unpredictable, intelligent, she was a scholar of the sport who could think on her feet, quite literally. Her three bouts in one day at the Paris Olympics demonstrated her tactical nous - she had different strategies for each opponent, winning all the bouts comprehensively.
While many of the tributes today focus on her fight outside the mat, one of the best comments about Vinesh the wrestler came in 2019 from Sarah Hilderbrandt, her would-be opponent in the Olympics final till she was disqualified (Hilderbrandt eventually won the gold medal). "I have never practiced these crazy situations that Vinesh puts you in," Hildebrandt said after losing to Vinesh at the 2019 World Championships. "She is very unorthodox and I am unable to finish against her. She improvises so much that it makes it difficult."
That was the New, Improved Vinesh Hildebrandt was fighting against. Until 2018, Vinesh only knew the attack mode. No matter the opposition, no matter whether she was trailing or leading the bout, she would attack.
That changed when she teamed up with Hungarian coach Woller Akos. She then started doing something she'd once considered a weakness: study her opponents and attack with restraint. It brought out the best in her and two World Championship medals followed.
Take the 2018 Asian Games final against Japan's Yuki Irie. The Japanese had won 20 of her last 21 bouts - her sole loss was against Vinesh. Irie knew what to expect - or so she thought. Vinesh typically would lead with her right leg, which was also one of her weaknesses as she would get caught out by pedigree wrestlers. So she switched it up - led with her left leg instead and that stumped Irie, who struggled to find answers as she had trained to go after the right leg.
This simple but effective tactical change helped Vinesh become the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Asian Games gold. And it gave other Indian wrestlers hope that an Indian could beat wrestlers from Japan, the powerhouse of women's wrestling.
It was this ability to tweak her approach and improvise that made her the #1 ranked wrestler in the 53kg division and the top seed at the Tokyo Games. That 2019 bout against Hildebrandt earned her the quota for the Tokyo Olympics. Hildebrandt, the reigning world #1, was the obvious favourite as Vinesh was still relatively new in the 53kg category. The American did what she knew best: attack Vinesh's right leg. She grabbed the right leg five times in the six minutes, but not once did Vinesh let her score a point. "She's wearing you out!" screamed the American's coach and Vinesh was doing just that in the 8-2 win.
It was an on-the-spot change that made the difference. Akos had told Vinesh to stay away from Hildebrandt and not let her attack her legs, but Vinesh did the exact opposite. She let Hildebrandt come in for the takedowns, countered them and tired her out.
That change in strategy won her the World Championships bronze medal and also convinced her that she had what it took to fight in the 53kg division.
Her bouts in Paris are now the stuff of legend. Especially against the unbeatable Yui Susaki. Vinesh's strategy stunned the wrestling world: she held off Susaki for five minutes and 45 seconds before swooping in for the kill with 15 seconds left. It's hard to imagine many other wrestlers taking that sort of risk in such a high-profile bout against a wrestler of that calibre.
Less than an hour later, she returned to her vintage attacking self against Oksana Livach to move into the semifinal. What followed, against Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, was a combination of the two.
That's what made her such a formidable opponent: you never knew which version of Vinesh you will face.
Would it be the aggressive Vinesh? In your face, crouching low and maintaining eye-level contact. Almost as if looking into your mind, pre-empting your next move. Before you know it, seeing the tiniest sliver of an opening and swooping in in a flash to sweep you off your feet and slam you on the mat.
Or the defensive Vinesh? Holding you back and wrangling for 90% of the bout before switching gears into attack mode.
Or the Vinesh that could do both with equal finesse? Stay firm enough on her feet to not give you any scoring chances, but at the same time stay on her toes to pounce at you when there's an opening. She kept you guessing. But here's the catch - she never second-guessed herself: she knew exactly what she wanted and got it done. As she did in life, both on and off the mat.