Dipa Karmakar may have lost an Olympics medal by a whisker, but she stole a billion hearts with her stupendous performance. The lithe gymnast’s bold bid with a closing Produnova routine off the vault after beginning with a neat Tsukahara routine may have brought the girl from Tripura near enough to a medal, but for a technically poor landing in the Produnova. Even then, it was the little Simone Biles from America who blew away the field with a near-perfect performance to take the vault gold, pushing Dipa — then placed third — a fraction below Switzerland’s vault specialist Giulia Steingruber.
However, like Milkha Singh in Rome and P.T. Usha in Los Angeles, the hair’s-breadth difference between a medal win and an inspiring performance by an Indian against all the odds will ensure Dipa a place in the highest pantheon of aspirational athletes who came out of nowhere to stun a nation. Dipa, who entered gymnastics as a six-year-old with flat feet, came despite the Indian system. While the infrastructure for sport anywhere in India, other than in the major cities, is extremely poor, it is next to nil for gymnastics.
Thus Dipa becoming the first Indian gymnast to figure in an Olympics event is itself an extraordinary achievement. She has demonstrated oodles of natural talent in going for the risky Produnova, which can deliver crippling blows to the neck or spine, makes her a unique combination. The least the country can do for such a wonderful sportswoman is offer her complete support to pursue her newly stated desire to win gold in Tokyo four years hence. A world class coach would be a priority.
