Over the years Indian viewers have only been able to watch in envy and slack jawed amazement as the Chinese and Romanian gymnasts performed seemingly gravity defying stunts in various gymnastic disciplines. By contrast our Indian gymnasts appeared nowhere in the gymnastics firmament and have been conspicuous by their absence in the Olympics. Until now that is. Dipa Karmakar has become the first Indian woman to qualify for gymnastics at the Rio Olympics, this year.
Lots of firsts
Dipa is not only the first Indian woman gymnast to make it to the Olympics; she was also the first Indian female gymnast to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games (in 2014). She finished fourth at the 2014 Asian Games; behind three gymnasts, all of whom were Olympic medalists and this is what gave her the confidence that she could in fact compete at the very highest level. She won a bronze at the Asian Championships at Hiroshima and came in fifth at the World Championships in 2015. Dipa was also the first Indian woman gymnast to participate in the World Championship in Glasgow.
It was Dipa’s performance at the Produnova — a double frontal vault known to be extremely difficult to master – that clinched her Olympic berth; she got the highest points from among 14 contenders. Her showing with the uneven bars and the beam and floor exercises was less impressive but overall her performances catapulted her to the top 30 and therefore the Olympics.
Winning against all odds
Dipa overcame personal and other challenges to reach where she has today. According to her coach, the Tripura girl was flat footed; a physical drawback that required her to train harder because of how this impedes the spring in a gymnast’s feet. When she was training for the Commonwealth Games of 2014, she had practically no equipment to train with.
Another significant drawback was the fact that the Gymnastics Federation of India was not recognised so there wasn’t much funding for gymnasts who had to manage on their own. Apart from a camp for a few months before the Commonwealth Games, it has been Dipa and her coach Bisbeshwar Nandi who have been hard at work.
So clearly Dipa’s achievement is significant at several levels and now all of India joins in wishing her all the best for her events at the Olympics. Meanwhile you can take a peek at how incredibly difficult the Produnova double frontal vault really is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbaUUyMhuwY
Author – Reena Daruwalla
