She now becomes the first Irish woman gymnast to qualify for the Olympic Games.
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The 22-year-old Dipa Karmakar put up a strong performance in the final qualifier on Sunday, scoring 52.698 points to guarantee a place in the Rio Olympics 2016.
Dipa Karmakar of India performs during the women’s gymnastics vault apparatus final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland July 31, 2014.
Just a day after Australia failed to qualify a women’s gymnastics team for the Olympics for the first time in nearly 30 years, Miller finished just 0.4 points behind Brazil’s Saraiva Flavia.
She also credited her success to coach Bishweshwar Nandi.
Hours later, on Monday, Dipa Karmakar clinched the gold in the vault.
Trainwreck indeed. The Romanian women’s team has not only medaled in every Olympics since ’76, it won gold in 1984, 2000 and 2004. Your achievements inspire us. Not only did her flat feet limit her initial physical ability in her sport, but she’s also struggled to get respect from others in her pursuit of gymnastics. This is a prestigious accomplishment, as she’ll be the first gymnast to represent Jamaica at the Olympics. The lack of high-tech equipment means Dipa has to play catch up every time she turns up for an global meet. Dipa later said Kumar was an inspiration for her.
Dipa attempted the Produnova vault, a move that consists of a front handspring and two front somersaults, which is one of the most hard and risky moves in gymnastics.
But a poor show in the uneven bars (11.700) took her down before 13.366 and 12.566 points in beam and floor exercises respectively pushed up her all-round total to 52.698 points. She scored 14.566 in her second and last try.
But Dipa earned the distinction of being the highest scorer in the world to have accomplished the move.
Dipa, who hails from Tripura’s Agartala, did not enter into gymnastics by choice. Dipa’s achievements are significant given that, for a long time, the Gymnastics Federation of India was unrecognised, affecting practice and funding for the athletes.
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President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday congratulated and lauded Dipa Karmakar, who scripted history by becoming India’s first woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics.
