Dipa Karmakar Returns to India After Rio 2016 Success, Receives Grand Reception

Gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who finished fourth in women's vault final at the 2016 Rio Olympics, received a grand welcome after she arrived in New Delhi on Saturday.

Dipa, who had become the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the final of any Olympic event, was swarmed by reporters and fans when she was exiting the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

Dipa might have narrowly missed the bronze medal in the vault finals but won hearts with her stupendous performance.

The Tripura gymnast scored an average of 15.066 points, a mere 0.15 less than the eventual bronze winner Giulia Steingruber (15.216) of Switzerland.

The gold went to American pre-event favourite Simone Biles (15.966), adding to the two gold she has already won in team event and all-round in this Olympics.



Reigning vault world champion Maria Paseka of Russia got the silver with an average of 15.253 points.

Dipa, who had scored 14.850 in the qualifying round, captured the imagination of the world by executing the risky 'Produnova' vault.

The Produnova - consisting of a front handspring and two front somersaults - is so difficult that even its inventor, Elena Produnova, landed it standing up just once in her career.

Success at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, when Dipa claimed a bronze on the vault, had initially failed to change her fortunes.

With next to no funding available, Dipa had to make do with practicing her skills on out-of-date apparatus.

When Delhi hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games, manufacturer Gymnova gave her the cast offs from that competition. Until three months ago, those were the equipment she used even though the world of gymnastics had moved on to more high-tech gear.

But when she qualified for the Olympics at the Rio test event in April, the recognition and funding finally started to flood in.

And now with her brilliant effort at the 2016 Rio Games, she surely has changed the face of Indian gymnastics.