Considering the level of performance exhibited by this 23 year old girl, who was an unknown name till the beginning of Rio Olympics, the title of this post seems a bit mediocre. Yes, but these were the first words which came out of my mouth as I was in awe of her, when I witnessed her epic performance in the finals of Women’s Vault Gymnastics event in the Rio Olympics 2016.
Millions of Indians were waiting for this event to be televised on the night of 14th August 2016 and were expecting Dipa Karmakar, an artistic gymnast hailing from Agartala and the first Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics and the first Indian gymnast, man or woman, to do so in 52 years, to open India’s account in the medals tally.
Since the past two weeks or so, the first name to appear on Google’s search box on typing ‘DIPA’ was hers. We could see her posters and pictures on streets of Delhi, in the newspapers, magazines and where not. It is not that it was her first big event, she has done wonders for India in the past too.She first gained attention when she won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow becoming the first Indian female gymnast to do so in the history of the Games. But the fact to be really proud of is that she is one of only five women who have successfully landed the PRODUNOVA, the most difficult vault currently performed in women’s gymnastics. It was the same vault which she performed for her second attempt in the finals at Rio. It is named after Yelena Produnova of Russia, who was the first person to compete it successfully in 1999. The vault is considered as the most high risk manoeuvre and many have raised their voices to ban it. PRODUNOVA sees an athlete sprint and catapult into the air, completing two somersaults before landing on their feet safely. Even the most gifted gymnasts are shy of attempting it and that is why only five gymnasts till now have successfully executed the extremely difficult Produnova –
- Yalena Produnova 2. Yamilet Pena 3. Fadwa Mohammad 4.Oksana Chusovitina 5. Our very own champ Dipa Karmakar
I was waiting with bated breath to witness this special event and what I saw was stupendous. Out of the eight finalists, only three attempted Produnova, Dipa’s being the best. But, still she couldn’t manage to grab a spot on top three, having been beaten by a difference of just 0.15 for a Bronze. She finished fourth with an impressive score of 15.066.
A girl hailing from Tripura, who started practicing gymnastics at the age of six, was first refused to be given training as she was flat footed, which is not good for a gymnast. But she, along with her coach, trained extremely hard to get the curve in her feet and achieve this feat. Representing Tripura in the 2011 National Games of India, she won gold medals in all the four events. In 2014 Commonwealth games, she won a Bronze medal, owing to her Produnova vault and became the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games gymnastics medal, and the second Indian overall. This, followed by a bronze at 2015 Asian championships too.
But, this is only the one side of her story. The other side being full of agony, sacrifices, hard work and sheer apathy on part of Sports administrators, politicians and media of this country. Who even knew the name of Dipa Karmakar before the beginning of Rio Olympics ? Like thousands of Indian athletes she had to fight not only her opponents but also murky sport politics, indifference of authorities, and lack of funds and infrastructure. Poor standards of coaching camps, minimal foreign exposure or competition and no government funding has crushed the morale of Indian gymnasts. But Dipa’s determination combined with effective guidance by former national champion Bisheshwar Nandi as a dedicated coach, was a blessing in disguise. Gymnastic is a tough sport to master and can be even tougher if one doesn’t have proper equipment. Before the French equipment was made available to Dipa, she had to train on makeshift equipment, which can lead to injuries. Another incident which should bring even more shame to us was when Dipa’s request for her long-time physio to accompany her to Rio was deemed WASTEFUL by the Sports Authority of India. As per a revelation by her family, the officials had questioned her, “You’re going alone, why do you need a physio”. But when she qualified for the Final, her physio was rushed to Rio to keep her in best shape in order to help India escape the embarrassment of returning medal less.
If we feel so much of frustration and devastation by such pathetic attitude of our administrators and politicians, then we could easily imagine the plight of our contingent who goes out there to actually perform with a burden of expectations of 1.25 billion people. I really don’t know when this system is going to get an overhaul which it badly requires seeing the state of Indian sports, except Cricket. But, one thing which I can surely infer is that no media hype, no ambassadorship, no social media support can bring us medals and sparkling performances unless sports is taken seriously in this country from the school level, P.T. periods (considered to be waste of time) are not hijacked by teachers, and political will engulfs political arrogance.
However, keeping all the problems aside for a moment, I’ll take this opportunity to take a bow for the unforgettable confident performances by you Dipa, which has made all of us Indians and the World Gymnast community proud. You have done the best you could, as you told in a post event interview – ” Did my vault as best as I can. Will do better in 2020 Olympics”. Medals are not a parameter of measuring one’s progress, one’s prowess. You have certainly won billions of hearts Dipa and made a special place in mine.That little bit more which could have landed you on that podium is to be provided by our administrators, our politicians, the media, the affluent section of society and by all of us who do not think beyond Cricket as a national sport.
This Independence Day, India has got a hero in you. Dipa Nova ! Way to go girl. Keep it up.
The Screaming Introvert 