Medal or no medal, Dipa karmarkar has a star following
IN INDIA, GYMNASTICS starts and ends with Dipa Karmakar. Literally.
At 22, when most gymnasts across the world pack their bags, Dipa Karmakar has become the first ever Indian woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics. Hailed as one of the few female gymnasts in the world to successfully land the Produnova – with the most 7.000 points for difficulty – Karmakar’s decision to perform this feat was as accidental as her decision to choose gymnastics in India.
It was not until April 2014, three months before the start of Glasgow Commonwealth Games that Dipa had attempted the Produnova. Hailing from the small state of Tripura, this diminutive Indian gymnast was toiling hard like any other Indian athlete to make a career out of sports, until one fine day, when her coach B S Nandi informed her that the sports ministry had installed a foam pit at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium to practice tough vaults.
“Why can’t you try attempting the Produnova technique — two and-a-half somersaults before landing?” Nandi asked her.
An international gymnast by then, Karmakar knew what her coach was asking her to achieve. Named after the legendary athlete Yelena Produnova, the move is considered to be an extremely difficult routine, demanding acute concentration, flexibility and control, and has only been completed in official tournaments by five gymnasts. Because this requires a front handspring and two front somersaults, it has a 7.0 D-score.
And one of these five gymnasts, as we all know now, is the awesome pint-sized Karmakar, the first Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics. In other words, Karmakar knew that she had been asked to perfect “a slam dunk in basketball, or a bicycle kick in football, or a switch hit in cricket.”
She had also heard about the worst case scenario: “In case a gymnast lands on her neck or spine, not just her career, but may her life is over.”
Although hesitant to speak in English, Karmakar didn’t have any difficulty spelling out correctly the Russian tongue twister, Yelena Produnova, and thus began her journey — from being an outsider to becoming the darling of the gymnastics world.
Karmakar not just heeded her coach Nandi’s advice but mastered this exacting technique in the remaining three to four months to win a Commonwealth Games (CWG) medal. The Agartala-based girl then finished fourth at the Incheon Asian Games, and fifth at the World Championships.
But her biggest moment of triumph came during the World Championships where none other but the three-time World all-round champion (2013-15) Simone Arianne Biles of US became a “big fan” of hers for mastering such a difficult technique.
Biles’ words made it all worth it for the Indian gymnast since Karmakar was competing against her idol own in the World finals at that time.
“It was a proud moment for me. I follow her as one of the legends of the game, but she herself is the big fan of my Produnova. That’s very special. She praised my efforts and what I am doing for my country,” Karmakar recalls when she talks about that momentous day.
Till date, Karmakar has won 77 medals, including 67 golds, since starting her career in 2007. Knowing well that she has a slight issue with her landing, which could well ruin her chances in Rio, Karmakar has chosen to be with her coach Nandi in Delhi to prepare for one of the two test events — in Turkey or Singapore — in June for her build-up event ahead of Rio.
She has become a star overnight and that shows when congratulatory messages ranging from PM Narendra Modi to Indian cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar come her way. Mercifully, finance has not been a problem for Karmakar as the Sports Authority of India has already announced Rs 1.10 crore for her training in the buildup to the Olympics, with Rs 80 lakh on apparatus and the rest for foreign exposure.
The big question remains, however: why has Karmakar not chosen to visit Russia where Produnova herself could help her with her landing?
There are several speculations on this, with Karmakar saying she "hardly has time before Olympics but would love to go and spend time after the Games.”
Well… That somehow presents a grim picture of the mindset of Indian coaches, who are somewhat insecure about their own standing if their wards do go outside India to train with some legend. Only Anju Bobby George could do that, but that was only for a short period.
Karmakar’s choice of vault — Produnova — has the risk of fatal spinal injuries but she is relishing the challenge.
“Every success involves risk and I’m not afraid of taking risk. I need to work on my landing. If I can achieve that, then I have a good chance to win the medal in individual competition at Rio. I believe in hard practice and I’m just following my coach. He doesn’t let me take any pressure,” says an-ever smiling Karmakar.
Whether she is able to win a medal in Rio or not may certainly not be a matter of debate in India, but in the exacting world of gymnastics, anyone who has qualified and would be competing against this Indian knows that a couple of perfect Produnova landings during actual competition could well be all that Karmakar needs to stand at the podium.
A last-minute ankle injury prevented that at the Incheon Asiad; Rio could well break that jinx forever!