| Dipa Karmakar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Dipa Karmakar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1993-08-09)9 August 1993 (age 32)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 151 cm (4 ft 11 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented | India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Headcoach(es) |  Bishweshwar Nandi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Dipa Karmakar (Bengali:দীপা কর্মকার; born 9 August 1993)[1] is an Indian formerartistic gymnast.[4] She is one of only five women in the world to have mastered theProdunova vault.[5] Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to qualify for an Olympic final at the2016 Rio Olympics, where she narrowly missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in thewomen’s vault event by just 0.15 points.[6] In 2024, she announced her retirement from gymnastics.[7]
Karmakar first gained attention when she won a bronze at the2014 Commonwealth Games inGlasgow,[8] becoming the first Indian female gymnast to do so in the history of the Games.[9] She also won a bronze at theAsian Championships and finished fifth at the2015 World Championships, both firsts for any Indian athlete.
Karmakar representedIndia at the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro, becoming the first Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics.[10][4] She was also the first Indian gymnast in any discipline to compete at the Olympics since the1964 Summer Olympics 52 years ago.[11] Karmakar finished fourth in the vault in Rio, with an overall score of 15.066.[12]
In July 2018, she became the first Indian gymnast to win a gold medal at a global event, when she finished first in the vault event of theFIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup atMersin, Turkey.[13]
She is one of the only five women who have successfully landed theProdunova, which is regarded as one of the most difficult vaults of those currently being performed in women's gymnastics.[14]
She is a recipient of thePadma Shri, the fourth highestcivilian award in theRepublic of India.[15] For her performance in Rio Olympics 2016, theGovernment of India conferred upon her theMajor Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award in August 2016.[16]
Hailing fromAgartala inTripura, Karmakar started her school life and education in Abhoynagar Nazrul Smriti Vidyalaya; she started practising gymnastics when she was only 6 years old and has been coached by Soma Nandi &Bishweshwar Nandi since.[17][18]
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.[19]
In 2008, she won the Junior Nationals inJalpaiguri. Since 2007, Karmakar has won 77 medals, including 67 gold, in state, national and international championships.[20] She was part of the Indian gymnastics contingent at the2010 Commonwealth Games inDelhi, India,Asia.
In February, Karmakar competed in the2011 National Games of India, representing Tripura. She won gold medals in the all-around and all four events:floor,vault,balance beam anduneven bars.[21][22]
In July, at the2014 Commonwealth Games, Karmakar won a bronze medal in the women's vault final, thanks largely to her Produnova vault, which had a difficulty value of 7.00. She received an average two-vault score of 14.366.[23] She became the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games gymnastics medal, and the second Indian overall, afterAshish Kumar.[24]
At the2014 Asian Games, Karmakar finished fourth in the vault final with a score of 14.200, behindHong Un-jong,Oksana Chusovitina, andPhan Thị Hà Thanh.[25]
At the Asian Championships, held inHiroshima from 31 July – 2 August, Karmakar won the bronze in the women's vault while finishing 8th on the balance beam.[26]
In October 2015, Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to qualify for a final stage at theWorld Artistic Gymnastics Championships.[27] She scored 14.900 on vault in the qualification round[28] to secure her place for the finals, where she finished 5th with a two-vault average of 14.683.
| Round | Rank | Total | Score 1 | Difficulty | Execution | Penalty | Score 2 | Difficulty | Execution | Penalty |
| Qualification | 7 | 14.900 | 15.100 | 7.000 | 8.100 | 0.00 | 14.700 | 6.000 | 8.700 | 0.00 |
| Final | 5 | 14.683 | 15.300 | 7.000 | 8.300 | 0.00 | 14.066 | 6.000 | 8.366 | -0.300 |
On 10 August 2016 at the2016 Olympic Test Event, Karmakar became the first female gymnast from India to qualify for the final vault event at the Olympics, with a score of 14.833. She missed out on the bronze medal,finishing fourth in the finals of the event with a score of 15.066 on 14 August 2016 at the Gymnastics Center inRio de Janeiro,Brazil.[29][30]
Karmakar is only the fifth woman in gymnastics history to land theProdunova vault, or the handspring double front.[31] The Produnova is an artistic gymnastics vault consisting of a front handspring onto the vaulting horse and two front somersaults off. The vault has a 6.0 D-score under the 2022-2024 code of points,[32] and untilthe addition of Simone Biles's vaults, it was the hardest vault performed in women's artistic gymnastics.[33]
| 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 practising for the trials of the2017 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She underwent corrective surgery for heranterior cruciate ligament in April of 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 the2018 Commonwealth Games, citing her lack of preparedness. Her coach said that although she was healthy again, the lengthy rehabilitation process had restricted her training.[34][35]
Karmakar won a gold medal in the vault event ofFIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup atMersin, 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.[36][37][13]
Karmakar failed to qualify for the vault final at the2018 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.[38]
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.[39][40]
Since 2017, Karmakar has been supported by theGoSports Foundation under theRahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme.[43]
Asian Champions in Artistic Gymnastics – Women's Vault | |
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