Dipa Karmakar (Born on 9 August 1993 in Agartala, Tripura) is an Indian artistic gymnast, who represented India in the Rio Olympics 2016. Dipa is the first Indian female gymnast ever to contest in the Olympics, and the first Indian gymnast to do so in 52 years. She managed 4th position in Women's Vault Gymnastics event of 2016 Summer Olympics held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with an overall score of 15.066.
Dipa started her school life Abhoynagar Nazrul Smriti Vidyalaya at Agartala. At the age of 6, she started practicing gymnastics coached by Soma Nandi & Bisweshwar Nandi since. Through extensive training, she was able to develop an arch in her foot.
In 2008, Dipa won the Junior Nationals in Jalpaiguri. Since 2007, Karmakar has won 77 medals, including 67 gold, in state, national and international championships. She was part of the Indian gymnastics contingent at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Dipa won gold medals in the all-around and all four events: floor, vault, balance beam and uneven bars in 2011 National Games.
Dipa Karmakar won a bronze medal at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games with her Produnova vault and becoming the first Indian female gymnast to do so in the history of the Games. She was the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games gymnastics medal and the second Indian. Dipa is being supported by the GoSports Foundation under the Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorship Programme.
Dipa is one of the only five women who have successfully landed the Produnova, which is regarded as the most difficult vault currently performed in women's gymnastics. She also won a bronze medal at the Asian Gymnastics Championships and finished fifth at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, both firsts for India.
In October 2015, Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to qualify for a final stage at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Dipa scored 14.900 on vault in the qualification round to secure her place for the finals, where she finished 5th with a two-vault average of 14.683.
On April 2016, Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify on for the Olympics and the first gymnast of India to grace the Games since Tokyo 1964. For her estimable presentation in Rio Olympics 2016, the Government of India conferred upon her the Khel Ratna award in August 2016.
Dipa Karmakar was awarded with Arjuna Award for Gymnastics in 2015, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2016. In 2017, Dipa is recipient of Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India.
Dipa had injured her knee while practicing for the trials of the 2017 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She withdrew from the selection trials for the Indian team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, citing the lack of preparedness.
