Gymnastics in India is a seed with potential. But without consistent nurturing or support to truly blossom. After a long wait of years, India found Dipa Karmakar to be one of their best gymnasts. Dipa was the first Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics. She even missed out on a Games medal by a whisker. She is one of only five women worldwide to have mastered the Produnova vault.
Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian female gymnast to compete in the Olympics after qualifying for Rio 2016. She was also the first Indian to compete in gymnastics at the Olympics since the 1064 Tokyo Games. She narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the vault, finishing fourth with a total score of 15.066. Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland finished third with 15.216, leaving Karmakar just 0.15 points behind for bronze.
At the age of 31, she decided to call it off. After failing the dope test doping test in October 2021 and was suspended for 21 months. She returned to competition last year, winning gold at the 2024 Asian Championships in Tashkent. She described the win as a “turning point” because she felt she could not push her body any further.
Dipa Karmakar is a failure of the nation
Are athletes like Dipa Karmakar exiting due to systematic failure? There is no proper development in the grassroots. Nobody even had a conversation about Dipa Karmakar before she got famous in the Olympics. After her success, she got the limelight for some time and then faded away with time. Since then no gymnasts have participated in the multinational event for India. Had she got much more support from the Indian government she would have succeeded much more.
Dipa Karmakar wrote in her Instagram, “After much thought and reflection, I have decided to retire from competitive gymnastics. This is not an easy decision, but it feels like the right time. Gymnastics has been at the center of my life for as long as I can remember, and I am grateful for every moment—the highs, the lows, and everything in between. Today I feel proud of all that I have achieved. Representing India on the world stage and winning medals and, most of all, performing the Produnova vault at the Rio Olympics has been the most special moment of my career.”
