A day before her 23rd birthday, Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian to qualify for the apparatus finals in an Olympic gymnastics competition, after she finished eighth in the qualifiers of the vault event.
"I'm happy but wish I could have done a bit better," Dipa said. "In practice, I perform way better than this."
Dipa, who is taking part in her first ever Games, scored 14.850 points from her two vaults at the Rio Olympic Arena on Sunday afternoon, which temporarily placed her at sixth. She then had to wait for nearly five hours for 38 other competitors to finish their vaults, before her qualification was secure. There were some nervous moments towards the end of the qualifiers when Canada's Olsen Shallon pushed Dipa down to the eighth, the last qualifying spot.
"As the Produnova vault was the first thing I attempted today and it did not go as expected, it immediately put me in a bad mood," Dipa said. "It wasn't very good. I was hoping for a better score from the first vault and because it was low. I was really disappointed. My landing had been better in training. My hip touched the mat today which wasn't in the plans. That I have reached the final is an amazing achievement."
USA's Simone Biles, the three-time world champion, topped the qualifying round with a score of 16.050. The top eight gymnasts will now compete in the individual apparatus finals on August 14.
"Simone Biles came up to me and wished me luck to do well in Produnova," Dipa said. "She is like a star to me and difficult to think of standing beside her. I'm so overwhelmed."
At the Olympic Games, Dipa was to compete in exactly the same two vaults as she did at the worlds: the first being the front handspring double somersault (the Produnova) with a D-(difficulty) score points value of 7 and the second, a Tsukahara stretched double twist (also known as the Zamolodchikova) with a D-score points value of 6. Dipa scored 15.100 in the Produnova (7 for difficulty + 8.1 for Execution) and 14.6 in the Zamolodchikova (6 for difficulty + 8.6 for execution). During qualification, she was the only gymnast to successfully attempt the Produnova.
Dipa added that her coach, Bisweshwar Nandi, was very happy since she executed what he had taught her to do.
Dipa's total of 14.850 was better than her scores at the 2015 World Championship vault final in Glasgow where she finished fifth with 14.683, but could not nail as high a score in Rio off her first vault as she had done in Glasgow.
In the all-round individual standing, Dipa finished 51st with 51.665 points in a field of 98 gymnasts. She did not enter the all-round competition.