JOIN USFor sheer courage and class, Dipa Karmakar won plaudits all around as she won the fourth place in vault at the Olympic Games gymnastics on Sunday.
Dipa had already created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games a few days ago and on this day, she raised the bar higher for aspiring youngsters in her country with a bold display.
The 23-year-old from Tripura betrayed a tinge of nervousness but there was no hint of it in her performance, her two vaults earning her scores of 14.866 and 15.266 for an average of 15.066. For a brief moment, she was in second place but with the giants of world gymnastics still to perform, it was obvious that she would slip down a rung or two.
American Simone Biles, the all-around champion, expectedly won the gold in 15.966, with Maria Paseka (15.253) of Russia taking the silver and Giulia Steingruber (15.216) of Switzerland winning the bronze.
From a country with no history of gymnastics at the global level, Dipa, though, was a clear winner. She said it as much, minutes later, when she was mobbed by the mediamen.
“I am happy with my performance, I did my best on this day,” she said. “I would rank my achievement higher than my rivals as they have been doing this for years. They have a history, they have the facilities and they get the exposure. We don’t even have a tradition in this sport.”
Dipa, dressed in an electric blue attire, was the sixth to perform and she launched into the Tuskahara 720 vault first up, landing with a just a little skip backward. With a degree of difficulty of six, she received 8.666 points for a total of 14.866 for the first vault.
The Indian then unleashed what the world was waiting for – the Produnova. A few minutes earlier, 41-year-old Uzbek veteran Oksana Chusovitina, competing in her seventh Olympics and one of the five to land the Produnova in a competition, had taken tumble attempting it.
Dipa, though, was better. She did the two somersaults and landed very low down, her back almost touching the floor. A long wait ensued before the score came on the screen – a 15.266, putting her in second position. Biles and Paseka then overtook her but Dipa’s mission was well and truly successful.
“Don’t think Indians can’t do anything,” she declared minutes later. “We can do plenty of things.”