On the night of August 15, 2016, the entire nation was transfixed by one name: Dipa Karmakar. The gymnast was about to perform the dangerous Produnova vault — known as the ‘vault of death’ –because of the difficulty in executing it.
Dipa did just that on the biggest stage of the world. She missed the bronze by a mere 0.15 points but she won a billion hearts that night. And a lot of admirers, top of the list being Simone Biles.
The extra-ordinarily talented Simone, who won four gold medals at Rio 2016 including the vault event, has gone on record saying she would never attempt the Produnova. “I am not trying to die,” is how she put it in an interaction with the New Yorker. She also went on to say how “insane” it is to see Dipa attempt the Produnova.
And now Dipa has revealed what the star American gymnast told her in the lead up to the final at the Olympics in an interview with Sportskeeda.
“When I was practicing, one day I met her, and she told me that she has seen my Produnova. She also told me why I should be participating in more tournaments, that would help me learn different other techniques as well. Yes, I think she must have been joking when she said ‘Karmakar vault,’ either way it gave me a massive confidence boost.”
The Karmakar Vault? We quite like the sound of that!
“The one thing I do know is that everyone now knows the Produnova vault. I have probably made it more famous than Elena Produnova ever did,” Karmakar had told the Indian Express recently.
You have, Dipa! And we wish you continue landing it safely and win a medal for India at Tokyo 2020.
(Featured image: AFP / Reuters)
