If there’s one word that stands out about India’s first gymnast to qualify for the Olympics Dipa Karmakar, it is resilience.
Born in Tripura in 1993, Karmakar found her entry into gymnastics fraught with difficulties. She was born with flat feet, considered extremely disadvantageous for a budding gymnast, and she was trying to excel in a sport which many Indians had not even heard of. In one interview, she even complained about how her gymnastics was treated as a circus in India.
Lesser women may well have wilted, but Karmakar never let her difficulties get to her. She trained and trained and started setting new records – first at the national level in 2011, then a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and a fourth-place finish at the Asian Games in 2015.
With a fifth place finish at the World Championships in 2015, Karmakar had already become the torchbearer of Indian gymnastics. But despite her incredible success, realising the dream – the Olympics – seemed out of reach.
Ironically, Karmakar is one of the few women in the world who have successfully performed a Produnova vault, considered one of the toughest vaults in the gymnastics world. However, despite her mastery over that particular move, her performances in the other categories had kept her outside a podium finish at the World Championships, keeping her out of the Olympics.
Coming into the test event for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero in August, Karmakar trained hard and focussed on overall performance. She had been put down as a second reserve for the qualifying event, but was the informed that she had been selected for the final list.
When she finally got her chance, Karmakar grabbed it with both hands. A strong performance, especially in her favourite Produnova vault, catapulted to her a total score of 52.698 points. Immediately, there was a buzz that she had already made it, but the confirmation came when the International Federation of Gymnastics released its final list of qualifiers.
At the 79th position was the name of Dipa Karmakar. And with that, the diminutive 22-year old from Tripura had boldly gone where few had treaded – the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for an Olympics, and the first gymnast from India since an all-male six-member team participated in 1964.
From struggling with flat feet to carrying the nation on her shoulders, Karmakar has come a long way. And as she prepares for a tryst with destiny at Rio in August, it is a reminder that India can produce champions in many sports other than cricket.
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