Vault to Glory

The Vault is an apparatus on which the gymnasts perform a vault which is known as vaulting. To perform what we know best as a summersault the gymnast runs down a carpeted runway, leaps onto a springboard, cartwheel over onto the vault with their hands and then perform one or maybe a series of twists and turns into the air. Following this routine, commencing from the run to the vault which lasts about 6 seconds they must land cleanly on the mat with no hops and steps.

Why do we care about this though? Indian Dipa Karmakar will be competing in the finals of the women’s vault having squeaked into the final by. In 8^th place. This marks the first time an Indian gymnast has made it into the finals of any event in Olympic gymnastics. The achievement alone is a victory as India isn’t a country one associates with in gymnastics. Even though she clinched the last qualifying spot with the lowest aggregate score among the 8 finalists, there will be global attention on her for she is the 5^th woman in history to successfully complete the Produnova vault(Front handspring off the vault table followed by two and a half summersaults).It seems simple enough but if the handspring doesn’t give the gymnast considerable height they risk landing on the back of their neck which may result in paralysis and hence the vault is also known as the death vault and there have been calls among the gymnastic community to ban it or devalue its scoring in order to dissuade gymnasts from risking their lives.

The scoring in gymnastics is done on 2 grounds.

1^st  Level of difficulty of the vault. D score

2^nd Execution E score

Dipa Karmakar is guaranteed the highest possible score on level of difficulty as she has openly stated that she will perform the vault in the finals. Uzbek Oksana Chusovitina who will be appearing in her 7^th and final games reportedly will attempt it.(Neither Dipa nor Oksana are considered favourites for the medal) The execution of the produnova as well as the level of difficulty and execution of the other vault will play a crucial role as in finals 2 differernt vaults must be displayed.

The main medal contenders include the favourite 19 year old American Simone Biles who qualified with a score of 16.050(when asked about the Produnova, she simply stated that she doesn’t want to die), Swiz Guilia Steinburger who is in the final with a score of 15.266, and 2008 Olympic gold medallist who makes a return after missing the 2012 edition, North Korean Hong Un-Jong with a score of 15.683.

I name them as the main medal contenders as they performed vaults with lower level of difficulty and have still secured very high scores due to their flawless execution. As an Indian, I hope to see India win a medal!

If the medal is won, maybe the standard of gymnastics will improve and India will have quality coaches and no one will have to take a decision to risk their lives in the pursuit of Olympic glory because let’s face it, she won her Olympic berth on the back of a Produnova vault in a qualification event in April. The American contingent have proper facilities and hence can rely on perfection in execution and don’t have to risk their lives. That system wins them medals. When will the sports authorities in India realise that cricket isn’t the nation’s only sport?

Will order prevail? Or will India awake to a surprise medal on its 70^th Independence Day? Will Dipa Karmakar’s Produnova be a vault to glory?