Rio 2016: Produnova proud

It was a case of so near yet so far for gymnast Dipa Karmakar at the Rio Olympic Games, as she missed out on a bronze medal by 0.15 of a point.

The agony of finishing fourth in the vault final continues to haunt her and the 23-year-old is down, but certainly not out. “There has been a lot of sadness and pain over the last few days. But on the flip side I think, if I bagged a medal at my first Olympics, I would have lost the drive to improve even more. My goal is to take a medal for India at the next Olympics. I will try my hardest to achieve that in Tokyo,” Dipa said.

The Tripura lass, who just had three months to prepare for the Summer Games, returned with her best score — 15.066 — in her pet event. When Dipa and coach Bishweshwar Nandi embarked on their dream to qualify for the Olympics, they did not have funding, equipment or even guidance. “Up until three months ago, I was using out-of-date equipment. But I am now hopeful the new equipment will be imported soon,” said Karmakar, who was one of only two competitors in Rio to attempt the high-risk Produnova vault.

The 23-year-old was happy knowing that even finishing fourth was enough to conquer more than a billion hearts and she now looks forward to inspire coming generation with her performances. I became famous for my vault at the Olympics, some called me the ‘Produnova Girl’. Others called me ‘Dipa Produnova’, a lot of people were cheering for me in the finals. I felt I made the right decision by choosing this vault.

“I want to inspire the next generation so that in 10 to 15 years, India can send a full gymnastics team to the Olympics and not just one athlete,” she said.

The vault, named after Russian athlete Yelena Produnova, who tried it first in 1999, is so risky that only four other gymnasts have tried it since. A gymnast trying this vault has to do a front handspring, complete two somersaults in flight and then land on their feet safely.

While Dipa almost pulls off the vault, she is still nowhere close to its pioneer, who would stand straight on landing. In comparison, Dipa’s landing is called a ‘butt grazer’ because she almost sits down on the mat before rising in a swift motion.

“I think my landing cost me the medal but I will work harder for the 2020 Tokyo Games. I know I am risking my life but everything is risky. If you practice properly everything becomes easy,” said the 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist.