Dipa Karmakar (born 9 August 1993)[1] is an Indian Gymnast from Tripura State. She is the first female gymnast from India to compete in the Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, in the vault event final, she finished in 4th place.[3][4]
At the Rio Olympics, she lost an Olympic medal by just 0.15 points; due to her historic achievement at the Rio Olympics, she became a well known gymnast as well as a face of gymnastics in India. In the final she performed the difficult Prodonova vault and completed against worlds' top gymnasts such as Simone Biles of United States, Maria Paseka and Giulia Steingrubber, who won the gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively.[5]
Karmakar represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics,[3][4] and the first Indian gymnast to do so in 52 years.[8][clarification needed] She finished in fourth position in the vault in Rio, with an overall score of 15.066.[9]
She is one of the only five women who have successfully landed the Produnova, which is regarded as the most difficult vault of those currently being performed in women's gymnastics.[11]
Hailing from Agartala in Tripura, Karmakar started her school life and education in Abhoynagar Nazrul Smriti Vidyalaya; she started practicing gymnastics when she was only 6 years old and has been coached by Soma Nandi & Bishweshwar Nandi since.[14][15]
When she began gymnastics, Karmakar had flat feet, an undesirable physical trait in a gymnast because it affects their performance. Through extensive training, she was able to develop an arch in her foot.[16]
In 2008, she won the Junior Nationals in Jalpaiguri. Since 2007, Karmakar has won 77 medals, including 67 gold, in state, national and international championships.[17] She was part of the Indian gymnastics contingent at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi,India,Asia.
Commonwealth and Asian medals and WC finals (2014–2015)
In July, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Karmakar won a bronze medal in the women's vault final, thanks largely to her Produnova vault, which has a difficulty value of 7.00. She received an average two-vault score of 14.366.[20] She became the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games gymnastics medal, and the second Indian overall, after Ashish Kumar.[21]
At the Asian Championships, held in Hiroshima from 31 July – 2 August, Karmakar won the bronze in women's vault while finishing 8th on balance beam.[23]
In October 2015, Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to qualify for a final stage at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[24] She scored 14.900 on vault in the qualification round[25] to secure her place for the finals, where she finished 5th with a two-vault average of 14.683.
Karmakar is only the fifth woman in gymnastics history to land the Produnova vault, or the handspring double front. The Produnova is an artistic gymnastics vault consisting of a front handspring onto the vaulting horse and two front somersaults off. The vault currently has a 6.4 D-score, and is the hardest vault performed in women's artistic gymnastics.[28]
Schedule and 2016 Olympics results
Events
Women's floor exercise
Women's beam
Women's vault
Women's individual all-around
Women's vault
Rank
75
65
8
51
4
Point
12.033
12.866
14.850
51.665
15.066
Status
Completed
Completed
Completed
Completed
Completed
Results
Qualification
Qualification
Qualification
Qualification
Final, etc
Karmakar nursed an injury throughout the latter half of 2017; she had injured her knee while practicing for the trials of the 2017 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She underwent a corrective surgery for her anterior cruciate ligament in April the same year and was unable to participate in any events for the remainder of the competitive season. She also withdrew from the selection trials for the Indian team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, citing her lack of preparedness. Her coach said that although she was healthy again, the lengthy rehabilitation process had restricted her training.[29][30]
Karmakar won a gold medal in the vault event of FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup at Mersin, Turkey in July 2018. She thus became the first Indian gymnast to win a gold medal at a global event. In the same competition, she reached the finals of the balance beam event, finishing fourth.[31][32][10]
Karmakar failed to qualify for vault final at the 2018 Asian Games. She hurt her right knee, on which she had undergone surgery for an injury, while landing during a practice session ahead of her participation in the women’s qualification for team and apparatus finals. She also pulled out of team final.[33]
Suspension
In a confirmation from the International Testing Agency in February 2023, it was revealed that Karmakar was serving a 21 month suspension after testing positive for a banned substance and that the suspension would end in mid-July, 2023.[34][35]
The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, presenting the Padma Shri Award to Karmakar, at the Civil Investiture Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on 13 April 2017
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