For the first time in history, a woman gymnast from India will compete at the Olympics.
Dipa Karmakar won rights to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games during a Test Event last weekend. The test event was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The games officially open in Rio on August 5.
Karmakar is 22 years old. She is from the Indian state of Tripura. She qualified for the Olympics by finishing among the top 33 individual gymnasts at the Test Event.
Karmakar is also the first gymnast from India -- male or female -- to reach the Olympics in more than 50 years.
Her historic performance has made her a trending topic on Facebook and Twitter. Supporters on social media praised and congratulated her.
Even Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about Karmakar’s performance. Speaking on Tuesday, Modi said, “Dipa has made India proud and brought glory to its name. First time, a daughter from the country has been selected in gymnastics…”
Also during the Test Event, the women’s gymnastics team from Romania failed to qualify to the Rio Olympics.
Romania placed seventh at the Test Event’s team competition. Only the top four teams at the event qualified to the Olympics. Eight other teams qualified to the Olympics at last year’s World Championships.
Romania has won a medal in team gymnastics in every Olympics since 1976. That was the year Romanian Nadia Comaneci received the first ‘Perfect 10’ in Olympic history.
Words in This Story
gymnast - n. a person who performs various physical exercises on special equipment as part of an athletic competition
gymnastics - n. a sport in which athletes are judged on how well they perform various physical exercises on special equipment
qualify - v. to do the things that are required to become a member of a team or to be allowed in a competition
glory - n. public praise, honor, and fame