In Dipa Karmakar, a fresh Indian Olympic dream

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In the last six months, Dipa Karmakar’s life has swung the entire arc. On October 31, 2015, despite displaying the best vaulting effort of her career, Dipa couldn’t secure an Olympic berth. She had come perilously close, but a podium finish eluded her.

Executing the Produnova, Dipa’s poor landing, despite a strong jump and lift, negated an otherwise strong vault and she finished fifth.

As she looked up on the giant screen, realisation sunk in and her Olympics dreams seemed dashed. But beyond her marking of 14.683 points, Dipa had done something bigger. She had put India and herself on the pedestal with that impressive showing. So when all hope seemed lost, a phone call from the Gymnastics Federation of India came to Dipa’s aid in February. The gymnastics’ Test event, serving as the final Olympic qualifier, was being held in the Summer Games’ host city Rio de Janeiro, and Dipa had just received news that she would be participating in it.

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