The front handspring and a double somersault - an artistic gymnastic routine that is considered the most difficult one to execute also goes by the name of Produnova vault (after Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova became the first ever athlete to successfully land it). The Produnova has the highest difficulty rating of 7.0 in artistic gymnastics and has a darker nickname - The vault of death.
Only 4 more gymnasts have landed the Produnova after Yelena herself and India's own Dipa Karmakar is the latest entrant into the elite club. Dipa will be attempting the Produnova in the final as she tries to clinch India's first medal of Rio 2016 but how does her vault compare to the original?
The Original Produnova:-
Yelena debuted the handspring double front vault in 1999 at the University games with a flawless execution that won her the vault title. The landing is the crucial part in the vault and Yelena’s was perfect after her double somersault. Nobody has been able to land the vault to the degree of perfection achieved by Produnova.
For someone so talented, she never won a world championship or an Olympic gold which is rather surprising. Though she won numerous other competitions and won silver and bronze at the Olympics, the lack of a gold gave credence to the critics’ argument that the Produnova was just a risky vault attempted by lesser athletes to give themselves a better shot at a medal.
Growing Criticism:-
The calls to ban Produnova started after Dominican Republic’s Yamilet Pena Abreu and Egypt’s Fadwa Mahmoud started attempting the vault in order to qualify for the finals of the events as even a poorly executed Produnova could guarantee their place in the final or even get them into medal range.
Most of the time, they would land awkwardly which prompted questions of safety. These grew louder when it came to be known that even teenage aspiring gymnasts were putting themselves at risk to master the Produnova.
Karmakar’s Produnova:-
Dipa Karmakar catapulted herself to fame in the 2014 Commonwealth games at Glasgow when she landed the Produnova with a very good degree of perfection. In fact, it won her bronze at the event. Many observers feel that the Indian’s Produnova was the closest they’ve seen to the one executed by Yelena.
An eminent writer on gymnastics, Lauren Hopkins, says, “Generally when people see Dipa’s Produnova, their reaction is that it’s ‘the best Produnova since the original’.” While athletes who have landed Produnova on occasions have suffered dangerous falls, Dipa has never had a wobbly landing and experts feel she brings an assurance of safety to the Produnova.
As she gears up for the individual vault final, which consists of 2 routines, Dipa has revealed that she is considering attempting a small variation of the Produnova and will be going through it after the first routine. That will allow her to assess whether she needs to attempt a variation to the Produnova, a killer vault in itself.
One thing is for sure. Dipa’s daring attempt at mastering the Produnova has brought gymnastics, a sport overlooked in the country as a ‘circus act’, into the collective conscience of the nation. More than a billion people will be holding their breath tonight as Karmakar flings herself up and performs her own ‘Produnova’.
