From Tripura to Rio: Dipa Karmakar’s Journey to the Olympic Stage

Dipa Karmakar is the first female gymnast from India to qualify for the Olympics.

Dipa Karmakar is India’s first female gymnast to qualify to the Olympics (Photo: PTI)

Dipa Karmakar is the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympics and India’s first entry in the event since 1964. The 22-year-old gymnast secured the qualification for artistic gymnastics with a score of 52.698 points in the qualifier.

Dipa started practicing gymnastics at the young age of 6. She had flat feet, as her coach Bisbeshwar Singh said in an interview. Flat feet is a postural deformity in which almost the entire sole of the foot touches the ground. The condition is not good for a gymnast as it affects the spring in their jump.

Hence, in the initial days of training, they worked on getting the curve in the feet of young Dipa. Her first major tournament was the 2007 Junior Nationals. Since then, she has won 77 medals, including 67 golds across state, national and international platform. Read the full story here.

Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam