After a listless start to India’s overall Olympics campaign, gymnast Dipa Karmakar’s qualification for individual vaults final has given the fans the first reason to celebrate an athlete’s performance in Rio de Janeiro. While the Tripura girl will now carry the great burden of expectations to deliver a rare medal at the Games, Dipa’s performance on her Olympic debut is already an incredible feat. No Indian woman before her had qualified
for a gymnastics event at the Olympics and her participation is India’s first representation in the sport after over half a century. Ten Indians -- all men -- participated in three consecutive Olympics: Helsinki 1952, Melbourne 1956 and Tokyo 1964.
They remain unknown; possibly mostly military men, given
the dominance of the Services in Indian sport in the first two
decades after Independence.
In Rio, Dipa has even managed to attract the attention of
the international media. The reason: she is one of only five
gymnasts to perform the Produnova,
the vault with the highest
D-(for difficulty)-value in the women’s
vault. Dipa landed the ‘vault of
death’ perfectly enough to emerge
among the top eight. “I like risk,”
a beaming Dipa said after sealing
a spot in the final. Star US gymnast
Simone Biles, who is the favourite
in the event, will not try the single
most difficult and dangerous manoeuvre
in women’s gymnastics --
it’s simply too risky. In fact, there is
growing clamour in the gymnastics fraternity to drop the vault
from the sport because it can cause life-threatening injuries if
a gymnast over-rotates and lands on their neck. On Saturday,
the risk the sport involves was highlighted when 26-year-old
French gymnast Samir Ait Said snapped his tibia on the vault.
And the manoeuvre that Ait Said performed was supposed to
be the safest one in the entire programme.
But for Dipa, it is different. What is the feared ‘vault of death’
for the world, the Produnova has become a routine exercise for
the Indian, who says she has attempted the vault over a thousand
times in practice with the guidance of long-time coach
Bishweswar Nandi. A combination of hard work and bravado
makes her defy death every time she vaults. The elite American
gymnasts may frown upon the notion of the Produnova,
but it’s what Dipa does best.
The gymnast’s journey from the humble beginnings in Agartala,
is awe-inspiring. For years, she had to make do with outof-
date equipment. While gymnastics in the country suffers
the perennial curse of bad administration, Dipa is the shining
beacon for all hard working athletes in the country.
