Hello, India. I hope you are extremely proud of Dipa Karmakar. You do not need to be born in a particular country to be good at gymnastics. Yes, over the years USA, Russia, and Romania have dominated the sport but it is fascinating to see a talented gymnast like Dipa emerge from India. Her success will ensure that it is no longer considered a bridge too far for an Indian to shine at the world stage in the extremely competitive sport of gymnastics. It is not important for everyone to become a Dipa but it is extremely important that we have role models to inspire children to play sport. India is known the world over as a country very passionate about cricket but the last decade has seen many other champions from other sports emerge and it is very heartening to see gymnastics enter the mind-space, thanks to the performances of Dipa at international events and especially the Rio Olympic Games. I was there in Rio for the 2016 Olympics and was very surprised to see Dipa attempt the Produnova. It is an extremely difficult and complex vault, yet she executed it with minimum fuss. As someone who has competed at the highest level, I must say that it requires a lot of guts and had I been given a choice, I would never have attempted such a dangerous vault. It is truly a reflection of the bravery and the dedication of this lovely gymnast that she was successful in executing it at a place no less than the Olympics. Decades from now they will still be watching it on YouTube. 1 was just fourteen and a half years old when I competed at my first Olympics in Montreal in 1976. I was aware that the Olympics were a big competition but a true understanding of what the Olympics actually meant came much later, at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Winning at the Olympics is the biggest achievement for a sportsperson and I was fortunate to enjoy that winning feeling at both Montreal and Moscow. Perhaps it is my destiny that I will forever be remembered as the first gymnast to score a perfect ten at the Olympics. To be honest, I think one of the reasons I became an international celebrity at the Montreal Games was due to the circumstances of that 10. The scoreboard was not configured to display a 10 and I remember the gasp around the arena when the scoreboard displayed a 1.00 after my routine on the uneven bars. Of course at that time I never realised why it was such a huge thing but even today, forty-two years later, it is still the most talked about performance in our sport. It resonated with an entire generation and that is also the connect with Dipa. Dipa's performances have clearly struck a chord with the people of India. She may not have had the access to the facilities we enjoyed or the best gymnasts of the world have today but she has a passion for her sport. To succeed in sport you need to have passion. It is this which will see you negotiate the hurdles that you face over your career. Dipa came agonisingly close to a medal at Rio, but there is no need for her to change anything ahead of Tokyo. You have to strive to be the best you can be everyday. She does not need to move overseas to be able to challenge for a medal at the next Olympics. She clearly has a very supportive system in India and all I would suggest to her is to perhaps go abroad and train, either in America or any other country where there are good gymnasts, for just a short while. Just a week or two to change the environment and then back to India. Hopefully she achieves her dream at Tokyo and hopefully she has already made an entire generation of children fall in love with our beautiful sport.

On August 14, 2016, a young girl landed the Produnova that took her to the cusp of an Olympic medal. She stood fourth yet soared into the hearts of millions across the globe. Dipa Karmakar's fourth-place finish at the Rio Olympic Games was a defining moment for Indian sport, which had barely cast a glance at the sport of gymnastics as a medal discipline till then. Dipa's journey from Tripura, an oft-neglected sporting outpost, to the national consciousness and India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, is one of grit, determination, and a stubbornness to beat the odds.

Bishweshwar Nandi Dipa Karmakar's rise in Indian sport caught most of India unawares. "Oh, she is the gymnast who does the death vault," is what we usually got to hear. I would get really upset as the very mention of the word 'death' was something I avoided bringing up in front of Dipa. One can practice as much as possible, but one cannot control the mind. One misstep in gymnastics, and especially the Produnova vault, can lead to disaster and the end of a career. There is a lot more to Dipa than the Produnova. I have been training her since she was ten years old. That mischievous brat who never listened to me has today ensured that I am mentioned alongside her whenever the conversation turns to gymnastics. To be honest, her story is my story. Together we have battled the odds and endured a lot of humiliation and ridicule along the way. This book is an attempt to share our story with a wider audience. Dipa was inundated with questions post her fourth place finish at the Rio Olympics. An entire generation seemed oblivious to the history of gymnastics in Tripura and we were supposed to have emerged from nowhere. There was an urgent need to change the narrative, about our state and our gymnastics. I am grateful to Vimal Mohan and Digvijay Singh Deo for convincing both Dipa and me to share our story through them. I must admit we were rather anxious as we were not fully aware of the effort needed for a book on Dipa's life and career. Our focus had turned to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics the moment we flew out of Rio and I did not want any distractions. Viimal and Digvijay convinced me over multiple sittings that Dipa's practice would not be affected one bit and that our story had to be told to inspire a new generation. Over the course of this book, they have travelled to Tripura, met gymnasts who once ruled the Indian gymnastics scene, and have returned educated about the contribution of our state to the sport of gymnastics. Both Dipa and I have been honest and it is not our intention to settle scores or create controversy. There are many Dipas out there who have not received the right opportunity to break through but I am confident they will be inspired by Dipa's story and chart their own course to success.

Digvijay Singh Deo I must confess I did not see Dipa Karmakar's historic vault at the Rio Olympics. Such is the nature of a multi-discipline event that you cannot be at two places at once. It had been a very poor Olympics for India till the 14th of August 2016 and we journalists were clutching at straws. Any chance of a medal meant you had to be there. I still remember the discussion with my the then colleague Vimal Kumar, the sports editor of IBN7 or News18 India as it was rebranded just ahead of the Olympics. For the sake of convenience we had booked a flat not too far away from the media centre of the Rio Olympics. Past experience of having been at the Olympics meant mobility was essential and the media centre had round-the-clock shuttle services to all the Olympic venues. Vimal and 1 were sharing resources, with us having just one video journalist, Pradeep Kumar Das, for the nearly month-long trip to Rio de Janeiro. The first week of the Olympics had been one of near misses. The 2008 Olympic Champion Abhinav Bindra retired from shooting by finishing an agonising fourth in his 10 metre air rifle event. Jitu Rai reached the final of the 10 metre air pistol event on the first day of the Olympics but the rest of the contingent had not been able to break India's duck at the Games. Tennis was a sport where India had a strong chance but Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna lost in the first round of the men's doubles and the same evening Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare crashed out of the women's doubles. The only good thing that came out that evening was the chance to watch the match with Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar sitting ten feet away. Mirza and Bopanna raised hopes of a medal for India by reaching the semi-final of the mixed doubles event. They had notched up some pretty impressive wins including one over Sir Andy Murray and Heather Watson in the quarter final. A silver medal looked assured when Mirza and Bopanna, playing flawless tennis, took the first set against Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in the semis. Williams, though, is a champion of the highest calibre and she turned the match around singlehandedly in the second set and then inspired Ram as well to beat the Indian pair in the deciding match tie-break. A medal had once again eluded us and the morale was pretty low among us in the press corps. Mirza and Bopanna were then scheduled to play the bronze medal match the next morning against the pairing of Radek Stepanek and Lucie Hradecka. That threw our schedule completely off track. Within minutes of the match kicking off, India were to take on Belgium in the quarter-finals of the men's hockey competition at the Olympic hockey centre in Deodoro. It was the first time India had reached the knockout round at an Olympics in hockey since 1980 and considering India's past record it was imperative that we were there at that game as well. Later that afternoon Dipa was scheduled to compete in the final of the women's vault. After much debate it was decided that I would head off to the tennis centre which was not too far away while Vimal would go to cover the hockey match which was at a considerable distance from the Olympic park.

Vimal Mohan I first met Dipa Karmakar in 2010 at the national camp of gymnastics for the Commonwealth Games in Pune. We were doing a series of stories on the medal prospects for the 2010 Games in New Delhi. In gymnastics, my team and I were primarily focusing on Ashish Kumar and a few other male gymnasts. During that time, Indian gymnastics was languishing in obscurity. However, Jim Holt, an American coach of the Indian team, saw great potential in India's male gymnasts, particularly Ashish. On the other hand, he didn't think much of the women's team, often discouraging them, hurting them in the process. During one of our visits to the gymnastic camp, one of the Indian coaches advised me to shoot Dipa doing some exercises. He said, "Watch out for this girl, sir. She is too good. As of today, nobody can beat her at the national level. "Dipa failed to reach the podium at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and I must confess, like everyone, I too conveniently forgot about her. Four years later, in the camp for the 2014 CWG, Ashish was a big star. He had created history in 2010 by winning medals at CWG and Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. Every newspaper and TV channel wanted a piece of him. Dipa, on the other hand, remained under the radar. And then out of nowhere Dipa reached the finals of the CWG 2014 in Glasgow. And the rest, as they say, is history. Not only did she become the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games, but she also created quite a buzz in gymnastic circles around the world. Thanks to her death-defying vault named Produnova. Subsequently, I along with my colleague at NDTV. Suprita Das, met Dipa outside the Athletes Village. I was slowly beginning to grasp the importance of that bronze medal for Indian gymnastics. For me, Dipa's bronze, along with Abhinav Bindra's gold, which he won in his fifth and last attempt, were the two greatest medals for India at Glasgow 2014. I remember interviewing Dipa in Glasgow, and what struck me the most was her fearless attitude: ready to attempt anything without fearing failure. It reminded me of a famous line in Sanskrit from Kathopnishad-Kshurasya Dhara Nishita Duratya It is like walking on razor's edge. Her dangerous manoeuvre on the vault is in itself an ample proof of her walking the talk. As a sport romantic, I always had the desire to write on the perseverance of Indian sportspersons, especially those who practice Olympic sports. That only cricketers and Bollywood stars get due credit and some others who work equally hard in their fields go unnoticed is a sad reality in our country. The athletes who fail at the international level have to often fight for their survival, settling for class-III or class-IV jobs. Aware of the harsh realities of sport in India, Dipa once said to me, "It's not a circus. I want the people of this country to understand gymnastics. Like many other sports, gymnastics too is an art. I hope people would understand that." Her words still ring in my ears, evoking emotions every time I think of them. What also caught my attention was all the hard work that both Dipa and her coach Nandi sir put in every practice session.