I can't see passion much in current generation of gymnasts: Indian gymnastics veteran Dipa Karmakar

Dipa Karmakar, the first Indian woman gymnast at the Olympics, retires, urging future gymnasts to embrace passion for success.

Just-retired Indian gymnastics star Dipa Karmakar believes most of the current generation of gymnasts lack passion and urged them to embrace the sport with fervour to excel on the global stage.

Dipa, who blazed a trail by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to compete at the Olympics and finish a historic fourth in the 2016 Rio Games, retired earlier this month, ending a career in which she inspired awe for routinely performing the highly-difficult Produnova vault.

"There was junoon (passion) in Dipa, that is why. Same for Pranati," she said when asked why there is only one Dipa or Pranati Nayak among Indian women gymnasts winning medals on the international stage.

"I can't see this Junoon (passion) much in the current generation (of gymnasts). I feel they look for short-term, instant success," she said on Friday (October 18, 2024) night during a panel discussion at an event titled 'Beyond the Finish Line', organised by Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon.

The diminutive 31-year-old from Tripura grabbed headlines with her fourth-place finish in the vault final of the 2016 Rio Games, losing an Olympic medal by just 0.15 points.

Tokyo Olympian Pranati has won a vault bronze medal each in the 2019 and 2022 Asian Championships. Hailing from Agartala, Dipa is one of only five women in gymnastics history to have successfully executed the Produnova, which involves two somersaults before landing and is called the 'vault of death' owing to the high risk of injury it poses.

She felt that the problems plaguing the national federation for some time have also not helped the cause of Indian gymnastics.