WATCH: History of Produnova – Vault of death is named after THIS Russian athlete

New Delhi: Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar stole the limelight at Rio Olympics 2016 by executing the dangerous Produnova to perfection.

The act, which requires a front handspring off the vault table followed by roughly two and a half somersaults, is considered to be too risky, which is why it is also called the "Vault of death."

The most established gymnasts, including new sensation Simone Biles, are too scared to perform it.

Those who tried doing so in the past have suffered injuries.

Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova was the first female gymnast to ever successfully land the difficult vault (which is how it got its name). She stuck the vault's landing for the first time in 1999.

While few others have performed it, noone could match Yelena's perfection.

But the entire sporting fraternity was stunned, when India's Dipa Karmakar landed it to perfection at the biggest sporting extravaganza.

With nothing to lose, Dipa gave her best at the vault finals as a result of which she became the toast of the nation overnight.

In the women's vault final, Dipa's average score was 15.066 from her two vaults of Tsukahara-720 and Prudonova where she logged 14.866 and 15.266 respectively to finish fourth behind Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber who logged 15.216.

It wasn't for the first time that the 23-year-old performed the risky act. She had earlier successfully performed it at 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.