AGARTALA, Aug 9 (TIWN): In India's Rio Olympic contingent of 100-plus, Dipa Karmakar's presence is undeniably the most unexpected. Her joyous arrival has driven her sport out of the shadows, and uncovered her home state Tripura's four-decade-old romance with gymnastics. It's a sport that India follows at the Olympics usually with a detached sense of wonder, lacking any personal investment. Until Rio 2016.

It is not that India has never had any presence in Olympic gymnastics, but it has been a very long time - more than half a century. Ten Indians - all men - participated in three consecutive Olympics: Helsinki 1952, Melbourne 1956 and Tokyo 1964.

They remain unknown; possibly mostly military men, given the dominance of the Services in Indian sport in the first two decades after Independence. Dipa is our first woman gymnast to get this far. The idea itself is a mind-bender, Dipa treating convention and stereotype with the insouciance with which she engages with gravity

The vaulting table for one, about 25m from where she is, separated by the runway, a platform meant for propulsion. Around her, there are stands and spectators but they begin to blur, the noise in the hall receding.

At one o'clock in her line of vision is the judges' table, from where she will see the signal to begin. About 20 feet away from them, her coach.

We first saw her standing at the top of that runway wearing a white shiny, sparkly leotard with graphical blue flames. The scoreboard showed the number 7, the points value for the vault that she is about to attempt.

"The hardest vault seen in this final," said the commentator. "She's going for the handspring double front." The gymnast then flexes her neck, raises her arms to acknowledge the judges, her chin jutting out, the palest line of a frown on her face.

Then off she goes. "At that time" she says about the full sprint,"you're thinking of nothing. All that's in your head is technique. The elements that I've been told about in practice, every time, every practice. Sir saying again and again, 'Beta (child), keep it in mind'."

They're there, the words, resonating in her consciousness as she races through - "Tight, tight, straight, straight, compact, swing, push." She hits the board, swings her legs into the air and, tongue sticking out, reaches out to the vaulting table.

Shooting towards it, only to be pushed back, with as much force and power that her forward momentum can generate; the vault becomes a bowstring and sends her into the air as high as she can go.

Then she whirs furiously, an electric saw blade in human form. The commentator's voice is rising, "Up and over, one, two..." Gravity reels her in, landing in an almost ungainly but centered squat. "Ohwee, she's made it! She made it..."

The commentators are exultant. "How about that!?" "I haven't seen that in 20 years since Produnova! "This is fabulous vaulting, courageous. It paid off."

It has taken all of six seconds. She is beaming, pumps her fist, rushes off stage, hugs her coach, high fives someone in a Canadian shirt. We are gaping.

Who is Produnova? Never mind that, who is this girl? Where did she come from?

We are still learning.