‘Initially I was sad’: Taunted for age, asked to retire, Dipa Karmakar wins National Championships All Around title in Gymnastics

Gymnast Dipa Karmakar is often accused to her face, of getting old. As if the rest of the world doesn’t. “Aap aged ho gaye ho. Gymnastics mein ab kya karna hai? Rio ke baad hi retire hona chahiye tha, (You should have retired after Rio)” she narrates the typical advice that flows freely towards her. Rampant ageism is only a fraction of what she has copped over the last few years. Even the sporting community that ought to know better, considering 48-year-old Uzbek Oksana Chusovitina is still going strong in the sport, throws in generous casual jibes at Karmakar. “It happens everyday. But what can be done?” she asks.

Not really setting out to prove a point, but doing it anyway, Karmakar won her sixth National Championships All Around title this last week, finishing ahead of the rest of the field, a full 14 years after she won her first gold in 2010. “Anyone can talk anything about athletes in India. But yes, thoda-sa prove kiya at the Nationals that I’m back,” she laughs, after picking a gold and two silvers at Bhubaneswar.

Not many have returned to win the All Around – an aggregate of scores over floor exercise, beam, vault and uneven bars – after two ACL surgeries. “I had support of my family and coach through every up and down. Not many can return from two surgeries to compete on all apparatus. We don’t even have a good physio in Tripura. If I could achieve this without any support, then surely I can do more in the future,” she says, explaining why the title made her extremely happy after proving “thoda-sa”, a little. “I’d been waiting for this day for long,” she adds.

National Champion after 8 years. 💫

This is for everyone who supported me, believed in me and helped me get back to the podium. My coach Nandi sir ,my family, my team. This is for all of you. 🙏🙏#Gymnastics #nationals pic.twitter.com/4TDhPRY6Ku

— Dipa Karmakar (@DipaKarmakar) January 5, 2024

She was dropped from the Asian Games list despite topping the trials and has been shunned by central funding bodies. “Ab woh ho gayaa. I don’t want to revisit that topic,” she says, betraying no rage.

There’s no beating around the bush, so you ask her if her two-year ban for doping could be the reason she was treated like a pariah, despite serving out her 24 month suspension. Hundreds of athletes serve out bans and legally return to the sport around the world. But could there be a moral taint whispered and imposed on her beyond the official punishment period that gets used to treat her badly?

“I don’t think anyone thinks that way,” she says. “But yes, if you want to constantly think negative, negative about an athlete, then there’s nothing I can do about it. As an athlete, I had affection of supporters before and will always have it in future,” she states. “I can only prove I’m good at the sport.”

The Nationals were announced 25 days ago, and Karmakar went into prep mode straightaway. “It was crucial for future selection. First I thought I’ll only do 1-2 events, but then decided on all 4, as I wanted to see for myself where I stood,” she says.

Olympian @DipaKarmakar is happy to be competing in a national event after 8 years and that too in the gymnastics centre Kalinga Stadium.

While praising the facilities of state of the art Gymnastics Centre, Dipa shares that it will produce a lot of Olympic and Asian Games… pic.twitter.com/9SOeiHLhqF

— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) January 3, 2024

The Rio Games 4th place finisher and CWG medallist gulped down being ostracised and for better or worse, internalised being left rudderless. “For the last two years, no one supported me except my coach and family. Initially I was sad about it. But as a human, it’s very normal in India to have one day when everyone is hailing you, and then later there’s no one by your side. Then you stop feeling bad. All I focussed on was a strong comeback,” she says.

Initially she coped with knee pain twice a week, then her favourite apparatus vault threw up several challenges. “Some days the coach would scream a lot. Other times he patiently explained. There weren’t too many days when I didn’t cry returning home from practice. Without competition and exposure I was lost. So it’s good to start the year with the ultimate national title,” she says.

Dipa Karmakar’s specialty: The Produnova vault! 🤸‍♀️

Only a handful can master it 🤯#Gymnastics | @Dipakarmakar pic.twitter.com/3mM0n18wQ1

— Olympic Khel (@OlympicKhel) November 26, 2023

Simple, clean execution

One of the biggest differences in Dipa of 2014 when she won her last title and 2024 when she won her latest, was her choice of routines. “The Difficulty values weren’t high this time. I focussed on simple vaults with clean execution. Just finishing all 4 events with no faults and 100 percent was a big high,” she says. Globally, the most renowned gymnasts including Simone Biles don’t go for risky manouvres all the time, but focus on executing basics seamlessly. As such, at these Nationals, Karmakar proved she can hit high scores even without trying wild adventures, thereby mainstreaming her All around credentials, aligning them with top gymnasts.

She was especially pleased with the Balance Beam, a wickedly testing apparatus, post her surgery. “I will have to do a high D eventually, and am confident in training. Vault is my speciality, but here at the Nationals I didn’t need to, to win a medal,” she says. The upgrade from Tsukahara 360 (one flip) to Tsukahara 720 (two flips) is underway in training, and she lost out on an uneven bars gold only on a tiebreaker. “I’ll need to be aggressive going for gold to improve silvers. But each mistake teaches you something,” she says.

📸 Grace, Power and Sophistication – sums up our Women’s All Round Champion @DipaKarmakar at the Senior Artistic Gymnastics National Championship 2023-24 at Kalinga Stadium. pic.twitter.com/XC6j79BMuE

— Odisha Sports (@sports_odisha) January 3, 2024

She went in expecting little, and after being dumped for the Asian Games, she says she can only hope fairness is applied next time, and she gets a camp or help to participate for upcoming meets. Having proved she’s India’s best ahead of all the youngsters, the 30 year old can only hope. “I don’t know if they’ll send me or not. I just have to ensure a good performance,” she says. The selection criteria are straightforward – a bunch of World Cups to qualify for Paris.

The country might or might not help her and acknowledge her merit but she loves the game to bits. “I’ll never forget gymnastics, I didn’t realise when this sport became my life. If I don’t go to the gym one day, I feel like the day will be rotten. Itna ghuus gayi hu isme, (I am immersed in it)” she says.

The country might dump her again without a thought, but Karmakar says she got her small thrills from teasing her coach BS Nandi that she had more National titles than him. “I think he has 4. I’m on 6 now – 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2024. Now I also have a record,” she laughs heartily, proud of her longevity.

She works hard, trains harder and spends her Sundays shopping, and buys dresses often getting yelled at by her mother. And enjoys every morsel of food at sit-down meals. “I love food. Mujhe karele ka juice bhi pasand hai,” she says, of a bottoms-up drink since her early days. A dash of bitter gourd juice is her vitamins fix. It even cleanses bad recent memories and reminds of happier ones, for Dipa Karmakar.

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