Shreya Varanasi, Pune
The first female gymnast from India, Dipa Karmakar, declared her official retirement from professional competition on October 7. The physical strain of the sport on her body led her to decide to step aside after dedicating 25 years to it. As the first female gymnast from India to compete at the Olympic Games, Dipa turned heads when she placed fourth in Rio. Furthermore, she made history by being the first Indian gymnast from India to clinch the top spot at the Asian Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships earlier this year.
The gymnast took to her official X (formerly known as Twitter) handle on Monday to announce the news to her fans. In the post, she said it was the right time for her to bid farewell to the sport and called it a “tough decision”. She said that she decided to withdraw from competitive gymnastics after giving it a lot of thought. Although it’s not an easy choice, she added that now seems to be the ideal moment. “Since I can remember, gymnastics has been a major part of my life, and I am thankful for every experience, including the highs and lows as well as everything in between,” Dipa said in her post.
The highlight of Dipa’s career, according to her, was her performance at the Olympics in Rio. She also recounted the difficulties she had as a child participating in gymnastics due to her flat feet.
With an impressive career, Dipa has hit several landmarks. In 2014, she won bronze in the vault event at the Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Indian woman to win in the gymnastic category. She later went on to win another bronze medal at the Asian Championships in 2015.
However, her remarkable accomplishment happened during the Rio Olympics in 2016. As the first female gymnast from India to get to the final vault event, she created history by placing a strong fourth. Additionally, she became the fifth woman in gymnastics history to complete the Produnova vault successfully.
Earlier this year, with a total score of 13.566 in the women’s vault final at the Asian Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2024, Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian to win the gold medal at the continental meet.