From nowhere, Dipa Karmakar brought gymnastics into the spotlight by becoming the first ever Indian woman to qualify for the Olympics. Grit, passion and hunger paved the way for the 22-year-old Agartala girl’s success in a country which does not even have a proper federation in place. KARTHIK RAMAN & JATIN VERMA bring you the life story of this promising young athlete, as also the plight of gymnastics in India
If there is one word in the lexicon that Dipa Karmakar has loved and emulated it is ‘stubbornness’. It is because of this otherwise negative trait that Dipa became a gymnast and carried on to finally win a Gold in the Olympics qualifier. In the process, this girl has overcome all kinds of hurdles big ones personally and, of course, the professional ones too – to emerge as the first ever woman gymnast from India to qualify for the Big Games.
Her father recalls a small, yet, significant incident in her life, which proves the uncanny determination of the 22-year-old is stubborn and how it helped her become who she is today. “When she was seven years old, I repeatedly asked her to shift from her Bengali medium school to her eldest sister Puja’s school which was an English medium one. However, she refused and kept at it,” Dulal Karmakar tells you. “She told me that if she changed her school, her gymnastics would stop and she could not let that happen at any cost. looking at her dedication towards the sport, we gave in to her wishes and allowed her to continue there,” he added.
Now, the nation is pleased that, for once, a parent considered their child’s opinion in making a decision on her future and that has helped her make history.
Dulal, a Sports Authority of India coach for weightlifting, says his daughter has always been dogged and “if she ever wanted something, small or big, she would work tirelessly for it till she got it. She is stubborn.”
Undoubtedly stubbornness is Dipa’s main weapon which helped her break the jinx for the nation, becoming the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the quadrennial summer games after a gap of 52 years.
“I only wanted to pursue gymnastics,” the nation’s current sweetheart Dipa says when you ask her why all those years ago she did not switch school. “I did not choose gymnastics. Gymnastics chose me,” she explains just after landing in Delhi after a long-haul flight back from Rio.
She booked her ticket for Rio after qualifying in artistic gymnastics following a total score of 52.698 points in the Test event. She also won the gold medal in the vault final at the event.
Not many knew or have cared that before this ultra prestigious gold, Dipa has won 77 medals in her short career. This includes 77 Gold in State, National and International championships.
It has been 16 years since she stepped on to a mat and started her gymnastics career but her hunger for the game has an endearing freshness to it. That too when her life as a gymnast was no cakewalk. Beset with a flatfoot which is a huge disadvantage for gymnastics, overcame the hurdle. She thanks her father for this as also her coach Bisweshwar Nandi.
“We focused on leg exercises and followed the towel rolling technique. We used to keep her leg on the roll-on and worked on it for considerable time,” Nandi says, adding that that none of this would have been possible without her dedication and hard work.
Even now she undergoes a pretty intense training, he says. “The training is hard load, we work from stamina to skills. We use stress buster exercises to ease of the stress level. If it becomes too extreme, we relax a bit by telling her jokes or stories as she regains her strength,” he says.
But jokes apart, the long sessions cover the entire day. Three hours in the morning and three hours in evening till now. “But now that she has qualified for the Olympics, we will increase it from six to eight hours a day.
Dipa says, the extra hours would be no problem as “there is no other entertainment apart from gymnastics for me.” Asked what she would have been doing if she hadn’t made it big in gymnastics, Dipa smiles and replies: “There was never any other option.”
like people think movies, think music, think entertainment, Dipa thought only and only about her floor moves, her vault jumps, her spirals and her somersaults. “That’s how engaging life has been for me,” she says.
Although she knows her task is unfinished as qualifying for the Olympics in gymnastics in a country like India may sound like an achievement, but not for her.
“I am satisfied (about qualifying for Olympics), but not fully happy. I will be entirely happy only after winning a medal at the Games,” she says confidently, not showing even once that she is jetlagged after her trans-continental flight.
“The target in Olympics (Rio) is to come up with a good result and performance,” Nandi adds, warning her of bettering her standards for the actual event.
Not quite ready to open the bottle of champagne yet, both however understand what Dipa’s achievement means and how her landmark will inspire others. “Finally her hard work has paid off. What she has been doing behind the scenes has been rewarded. Now, the entire world knows about her achievements and the history she created,” a jubilant Bisweshwar, who has been her coach for nearly 16 years now, says.
The pleasantly surprised Sports Authority of India was also not short of praise for her. “It is a game changer, she fought against all odds,” said Injeti Srinivas, SAI Director General.
“Considering her rankings, the way she has been performing recently, Dipa is definitely a medal prospect in Rio Olympics. If she maintains this level she definitely can get a medal,” he added.
One of Dipa’s specialties is her ability to pull off the most dangerous vault Pradunova. In the 2015 World Championships, Dipa bagged the highest score on a Pradunova with a tally of 15.100, including 7.00 for difficulty, 8.1 for execution and 0.1 for penalty.
The landing is the most important part of the move as she could conjure serious injuries if she fails to execute it properly. However, Nandi says he was always hopeful she would pull it off something
many in world can’t. He is happy that Dipa is one among the few who have this excellence and he remains hopeful that she will continue to flourish on the Pradunova.
Come summers in Rio, Dipa hopes her coach’s words will come true and she successfully pulls off the Pradunova and carry on from where she left in the Rio test event to rewrite history in a nation where gymnastics needs massive lifting up to be on par with other Olympic sports.