Produnova girl must master the Tsuk

Tribune News Service

Rio de Janeiro, August 13

Five days after celebrating her 23rd birthday, Dipa Karmakar would seek a gift for herself in the women’s gymnastics vault final tomorrow. It’s a gift she must give herself, only she could do this.

Dipa is the only Indian woman to figure in the hellishly competitive Olympics competition. Now, having got to the final, she must make another superhuman effort if she is to climb the podium tomorrow. Dipa must rise — and not merely figuratively. Her speciality, the Produnova, involves two flips in the air — to land safely on the ground, feet first, Dipa must gain as much height as possible off the vaulting horse.

“There were minor issues with her Produnova vault in the qualification stage the other day,” says Bisbeshwar Nandi, Dipa’s coach since childhood. “To score better, and to land better, she must gain more elevation,” he said. “She did not go high enough off the horse the other day. And she also needs to keep her legs aligned and her knees together to score better.” Nandi says that today they tried to give the final polish to her vaults.

Dipa scored 15.100 points with her Produnova in qualification, and 14.600 with her second vault, the Tsuk. Her average score was 14.850. The top three in the final scored 16.050, 15.683, 15.266 — the scoring is extremely precise and close.

Done Produnova, do Tsuk!

Dipa’s mastery of the Produnova has made her an international gymnastics celebrity; now, to get a medal, she’s got to really execute her second vault perfectly. The gymnasts must perform two different vaults — for her second vault, Dipa has gone for the Tsuk, named after Mitsuo Tsukahara, a male gymnast from Japan. Tsukahara medalled in three Olympics, 1968 to 1976. The Tsuk involves a sideways twist and a backflip in the air off the vaulting horse. It has got a difficulty level of 6 against the Produnova’s 7.

The field in the final is very, very competitive. Simone Biles, the world’s top star, scored 16.000 and 16.100 in her two vaults in qualification. Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, 41 years old, a legend who’s participating in her seventh Olympics, also does the Produnova, but she opted not to go for it in qualification. Yet she qualified for the final, in fifth position.

Nandi says that all eight girls in the final are winners — that even if she finishes eighth, Dipa would remain a winner. He’s right. Medal or not, Dipa’s a winner.