On day 2 of the Artistic Gymnastics event at Rio 2016, Dipa Karmakar created history by becoming the first Indian in 52 years to compete on the Olympic stage in a Gymnastics event. But she did not stop there. On her first outing, she has now made it to the finals of Vault by finishing 8th overall with an average score of 14.850 and will now be competing in the finals against seven other gymnasts on 14th August for the medals.
But irrespective of if she claims a medal now, what she has already achieved at Rio 2016 is something special.
Artistic Gymnastics has become a marquee event for the Olympic games with the likes of USA, China, Russia seen as the dominant forces of the game. What’s more is that there are as many as 14 medals (8 for men and 6 for women) up for grabs in the event. Despite the popularity, India had not quite taken to the world stage of Gymnastics for a long time since its inception in the 1896 games.
India’s first medal in Gymnastics
In 2010, at the Delhi Commonwealth games, gymnast Ashish Kumar claimed the first ever gymnastics medal , a bronze in vault, in an international event and created history by doing so. Dipa, then another participant drew inspiration from Ashish’ performance. "That's when I told myself I will win it for India in Glasgow four years down the line," said Dipa.
And she delivered ‘winning a bronze medal in the women’s vault at the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glasgow, Scotland and following her performance up with a fourth place finish at the Asian Games in Incheon the same year. She became the first Indian to qualify for the Olympics in 2016 after finishing first in the vault event at the world gymnastics qualification event held in Rio De Janeiro earlier this year.
Soon after, she became the first ever Indian ever to be recognised as a “World Class Gymnast” by the international gymnastics body.
Dipa’s Roadblocks & Hurdles On Her Path To Stardom
But the road has not always been as smooth and flawless for Dipa. Born into a Bengali family in Agartala, Tripura, she got introduced to Gymnastics by her father as a 6-year-old. Karmakar had flat feet when she first enrolled and her coach, Bisbeshwar Nandi recalled “I still remember Dipa coming to me as a flat-footed kid, which is not good for a gymnast. It affects the spring in her jump”.
He added "That was the hardest part to fix for Dipa, we had to work very, very hard when she was a little kid to get the curve in her feet." . The gymnast has credited her coach on her achievements stating that she would not had achieved what she already has without him by her side.
The Produnova vault
Dipa has also been credited as only the fifth woman in history to have landed the Produnova vault, which is one of the most difficult vaults in gymnastics. The vault includes a front handspring and two front somersaults and has a Difficulty-Score of 7.000 .
She has been credited of achieving the highest score out of a Produnova vault with 8.300 (Execution-Score) + 7.000 (Difficulty-Score) for a combined 15.300 which is 0.2 clear of what her compatriots Yamilet Peña of Dominican Republic and Fadwa Mahmoud of Egypt has achieved in high profile competitions.
Her coach was sceptical at first regarding her safety in landing the vault and it was only until 15 days to Glasgow that he decided to let her go ahead with it as she seemed confident of landing it. "She's always had the speed and strength. I consulted senior coaches because this is a risky vault, but when I asked her, she was confident," said Nandi.
Rio 2016
At Rio, she attempted the Produnova on her first attempt, achieving a score of 15.100 and followed it up with a score of 14.600 in her second attempt to score and average of 14.850 which was good enough for 8th place and a spot in the vault finals at Rio 2016.
For her to be successful and clinch a medal in the finals, she would have to improve on her E-Score and make sure she gets her average score above 15.000 to create history.
Dipa an inspiration already
But irrespective of her performance in the finals, what she has achieved already is stuff of legends. She as come from humble backgrounds to the grandest stage and made it big.
She has been an inspiration and paved the way for India to create its own legacy in gymnastics now as more young kids would look to follow her feet and hopefully bring even more laurels and rewards for their country.
Dipa you have made us proud. Best of luck for the finals.
