Dipa Karmakar | On Independence day India wakes up to a sport named gymnastics

In 1947, a country which has been suffering under British colonialism for almost 200 years, took its first breath as an independent nation in the hour of midnight between August 14 and 15. People all around the country gathered around radio sets to listen to something which many among them did not even understand. 69 years later, something similar thing happened for all Indians. A nation of more than one billion people remained glued to their Television sets in the midnight hour to watch something they did not understand. A tryst with destiny in the greatest sporting event in the World - Dipa Karmakar attempting the ‘Vault of Death’.

Also, read: Dipa Karmakar | The girl who climbed many a mountain to reach the sky

After five gymnasts, Dipa Karmakar entered the arena as the sixth in the line of eight finalists, needing a better score than 15.216 to get a medal. Before the final, Dipa’s best-ever score in the Produnova vault was 15.1, and for a medal, she needed a miraculous performance. And she almost did it. Dipa ran in and did a Tsukahara 720 - a half turn off the springboard onto the vault table, then a push backwards, and finished with a somersault. 6 for difficulty and 8.866 for execution read the scoreboard. 14. 866 was a good start, and with the Produnova coming, hopes of a medal lingered.

The Produnova – the deadliest of gymnastic vaults – was coming. 41-year-old Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan had shown her Produnova skills earlier in the final, but Dipa Karmakar took it to another level. A stumble during landing in the qualifying round had reduced her points in the qualifying round, and Dipa needed a perfect one to nail a medal at Rio.

But, with 2015 World Gymnastic championship vault gold medalist Maria Paseka of Russia and the USA’s Simone Biles, who is arguably the greatest gymnast of our times, remaining, a medal was a long shot. After 5 minutes, it was all over. Paseka finished with 15.253 to take the silver, while Biles touched almost 16 to win the gold by a big margin. 0.15 points more, and Dipa could have won a medal. 15.066 would have given Dipa a bronze medal at London Olympics, but not at Rio. In a sport where decimal points decide the medals, it was a big distance. But, Dipa had travelled a bigger distance, and reached within a whisker off a medal at the greatest sporting event in the world from nowhere.

“One wrong move and I could die on the spot” - This is the opening line of Dipa Karmakar in a BBC news package. Produnova, also known as the “Vault of Death”, was first attempted by Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova in 1999. With a difficulty score of 7, Produnova is a vault routine, which gives high value for the difficulty. Even if the gymnast does not manage to land it perfectly, the reward for the routine is very high. It gives the gymnasts attempting Produnova an upper hand over other competitors. Apart from Yelena Produnova, only four other gymnasts have successfully done the routine, and it is known to be the most dangerous of the gymnastic vaults. So much so that, when asked whether she would attempt it, Simone Biles said, "I'm not trying to die."

For a country which has no history in gymnastics, the Vault of Death is a necessity, more than a choice. It is the only thing that gives Dipa a chance to go toe-to-toe with the world’s best. It is a symbol of the risks an Indian has to take to achieve something in life, and Dipa Karmakar showed it at Rio in the women’s vault final. From practicing with second-hand equipment to being mocked by foreign media for doing the Produnova, Dipa Karmakar has come a long way to reach the fourth place in the world. Even with her life on the line, she went in search of a medal, and her efforts will surely inspire a generation of gymnasts in this country in the years to come. Dipa Karmakar might not have won a medal, but just like Milkha Singh and PT Usha, she will also be remembered as one of India’s greatest Olympians not to have won a medal – at least till the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when she has a shot at changing that. 

Also, read: Twitter reacts to Dipa Karmakar's historic fourth-place finish