What is the Produnova vault, and why should you cheer when Dipa Karmakar lands on her feet at Rio?

In the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, Dipa Karmakar attempted the Produnova vault referred to by some as the 'vault of death'– an act that paved the way for her qualification to the 2016 Rio Olympics. But the most startling thing about that is not that Karmakar is from the neglected state of Tripura, or the that she is the first woman gymnast to represent India at the Olympics, or even that for once an Indian athlete has captured the world’s imagination and become a ‘trending’ topic ahead of the games in Rio. It is the fact that Dipa’s story – and what a truly inspiring story it is – is told through the vault itself and her decision to go ahead with it at Glasgow.

The Produnova is an infamously dangerous vault. It has a difficulty rating of 7.0 – the highest of all vaults – and the front handspring led double frontal salto, when not executed perfectly, runs the risk of splitting the gymnast’s spin in half or injuring him or her permanently. Not many attempt the Produnova and till date, there are all of five women in the world who have succeeded at it. While one of them is the woman behind the vault – Russian Yelena Produnova – one other is Dipa Karmakar, who has the highest contemporary score in what is easily the second neatest execution of the vault.

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The challenge of the vault lies in sticking it – in gymnastics a ‘stick’ is when a gymnast lands on their feet – after two airborne somersaults that result in the weight on the feet doubling at the time of landing. When she spoke to DNA, Dipa explained it with remarkable simplicity.

“If I’m 45 kg, the legs have to take 80-90 kg. Now, imagine landing on the neck instead, which can crack under such weight.”

When Egypt’s 21-year-old gymnast Fadwa Mahmoud attempted the very first Produnova of her career, she landed on her face and came frighteningly close to inuring her neck. Mahmoud has since managed the vault, along with Dominican Yamilet Pena, and with each of their attempts there has been fresh controversy on whether such a dangerous vault should be allowed to be attempted at all.

“There can be death if you land on the neck, there’s death if you go down headlong. It is risky, I know. But to win something, I always knew I had to take a risk.” – Dipa Karmakar

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The Death Vault or Nothing – Socio-economic motivations behind the Produnova

So why did Dipa, amidst all the clamour of banning the Produnova vault, decide to go ahead with it? The answer sheds as much light on the plight of Indian athletes as it does on Karmakar’s singular perseverance. Unlike in the USA where gymnasts – especially the women – are regarded as national celebrities, in India, to be the path-breaker in a sport as isolating and demanding as artistic gymnastics is not only frequently frustrating but also a very steep climb.

If Dipa, whose coach helped fashion primitive vault apparatus from old motor parts, had failed at the Produnova, then the sad truth is that she would not have lost a great deal in a country where no expectations other than her own ride on her.

If, however, she succeeded at the vault – which she did with magnificent ferocity – she would get a high score, win a medal, turn the eyes of an uninterested country to her sport, and most importantly, prepare an avenue for future funding. Which is exactly what happened for her.

Dipa Karmakar, as she sticks the Produnova [Source: NDTV]

Over the years, artistic gymnastics has developed into a serious show of strength and muscle-aided acrobatics. But what makes it a great sport is that the vulnerability of the gymnast is ever present, no matter how stable a record he or she holds.

In the USA, the announcement of the women’s artistic gymnastics team is as big an event as the announcement of the Test team in Indian cricket. In Romania, no gymnastics team has ever had to return from the Olympics without a medal for the past 50 years. But in India, there are no teams or replacement athletes.

On August 7, when the once flat-footed gymnast from a state most Indians would struggle to point out on a map, walks out onto the mat in a leotard, history will be made. Irrespective of whether Dipa makes it to the finals of the floor routine, the balance beam, the individual all-around or her beloved vault, she will remain a testament to the time when an Indian sportsperson chose between the death vault or nothing.

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