Dipa Karmakar has been experiencing a lot of new things over the past week—the adulation and attention she is receiving from the whole nation is something she is not used to, having come up from obscurity, fighting the odds.
On Sunday, she narrowly missed out on a medal in the vault competition at the gymnastics venue in Rio. But the fourth place finish is no small deed considering the difficult and lonely journey she has taken to reach there.
Dipa wanted that medal so badly, giving her all and more for it. She knew that an Olympic medal would change the plight of so many Dipa Karmakars back home, those whose talent and potential gets lost in the political and administrative cesspool that is Indian sport.
Dipa is very upset she missed out though it is not visible on her ever-smiling face.
Medal is secondary, the spirit she displayed is special and that was acknowledged on twitterscape.
Abhinav Bindra was one of the first to congratulate the young champion. “Dipa Karmakar you are my hero ,” tweeted the Beijing Olympics gold medallist.