Saying goodbye is always emotional for an athlete, unless you happen to Bjorn Borg, who shockingly retired at 26 after winning 11 Grand Slam titles. Superstars like John McEnroe tried to convince Borg to stay on. He refused. On Monday, Dipa Karmakar, India’s gymnastics queen, took to social media to say that she was retiring after nearly 25 years in artistic gymnastics. Those fortunate to watch Dipa compete in flesh and blood at the 2016 Rio Olympics will remember how she caught the attention of the world. Among the many fourth-place finishes which Indian athletes have come up with at an Olympics, what Dipa achieved in Rio will rank as one of the Indian sport’s finest moments.
For those not well versed with gymnastics, Deepa’s fourth-place finish may have fallen short of a medal. But she took the world by storm, with those watching aware of the risk involved and the difficulty in executing the Produnova. That was just a day before India’s Independence Day.
A modest athlete who never let success get to her head, she thoroughly deserved the Khel Ratna Award for that fourth-place finish in Rio. India’s campaign in Brazil was low key, with two medals at the last minute from PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik bringing cheer.
As Dipa went through her routine in Rio, people wanted to know about the diminutive girl who was all grace and poise as she produced an effort which had fans’ eyeballs popping. Scoring in gymnastics is tough, but usually controversy-free, so a fourth-place finish and Dipa’s mega-watt smile was a wow moment for every Indian inside the arena in Rio and millions watching on television.
If you read the social media posts from Dipa on Insta and X on Monday, it was clear that she had decided to pack up because her body was not coping. She wrote in Hindi and not English, and the words were well thought out. While most may remember just that fourth-place finish, she had so much more to show for her efforts. This writer was fortunate enough to have watched and spoken to her at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014. The same year, she won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Dipa never talked too much, yet to compete in the Asian Games in Incheon was hard as she was recovering from a fractured ankle. To be on painkillers, accelerate down the runway and still attempt those take-offs required tremendous bravery. Through joy or pain, Dipa would merely smile and not talk much.
Her post read: Signing off from the mat. She had been training for over 25 years, and hailing from Tripura, which did not have the best facilities, she strived for excellence under her coaches, ‘Bisheshwar Nandi Sir and Soma Maam’. Her relationship with Nandi was almost reverential, and she never wanted to travel abroad and train under a foreign coach, as was repeatedly suggested.
Not many would know how tough it was for Dipa to deal with injuries. The 2018-19 period was especially traumatic. She underwent knee surgery and was still not fully fit after rehab. There was no dearth of criticism, even from within the Sports Authority of India (SAI), with some saying returning to the sport would be impossible.
In 2019, Dipa was in a lonely place. She would be in New Delhi, visiting physios who tried to get her back to peak fitness. During the course of an interview with this writer, while she was staying in the residential wing of the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) complex, it became clear how much she trusted coach Nandi.
Amid her clipped answers, Dipa made one point clear – she would only do what Nandi said. “Sir bolenge khada ho jaoo, main khadaa ho jaungee [If Sir says stand up, I’ll stand up],” she said. “Sir bolenge baith jao, mai baith jaungee [If he asks me to sit down, I’ll sit down].”
A dope ban that followed further derailed her career, but she fought hard, and her comeback in May 2024 – when she won a gold medal in the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tashkent – was proof that she was still hungry. Of course, it was of no use when it came to qualification for Paris 2024.
After dealing with pain and a body which has faced plenty of trauma, Dipa signs off with plenty to savour. Legend? Yes. So what if she does not have an Olympic medal?
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