Diego Hypólito

Diego Matias Hypólito (Brazilian Portuguese: [d͡ʒi.ˈeɡu iˈpɔlitu]; born June 19, 1986) is a Brazilian gymnast and the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the floor exercise. He is the first male gymnast from Brazil, and South America, to win a medal at the World Championships.[2] He also won 63 medals in World Cup.[3] Hypólito has represented Brazil in three Olympics: 2008, 2012 and 2016. He received the silver medal in Floor at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.[4] He is also the younger brother of Daniele Hypólito, the first Brazilian gymnast ever to medal at Worlds.

Diego Hypólito
Hypólito in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Diego Matias Hypólito
Country represented	Brazil
Born	(1986-06-19) June 19, 1986 Santo André, Brazil
Hometown	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height	170 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior international
Club	CR Flamengo
Head coach(es)	Renato Araújo
Retired	2019[1]
Medal record Men's artistic gymnastics Representing  Brazil Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Floor exercise World Championships 2005 Melbourne Floor exercise 2007 Stuttgart Floor exercise 2006 Aarhus Floor exercise 2011 Tokyo Floor exercise 2014 Nanning Floor exercise World Cup Final 2004 Birmingham Floor exercise 2006 São Paulo Floor exercise 2008 Madrid Floor exercise 2006 São Paulo Vault Pan American Games 2007 Rio de Janeiro Vault 2007 Rio de Janeiro Floor exercise 2011 Guadalajara Team 2011 Guadalajara Floor exercise 2011 Guadalajara Vault 2003 Santo Domingo Team 2003 Santo Domingo Vault 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team Pan American Championships 2013 San Juan Floor exercise 2013 San Juan Vault 2014 Mississauga Floor exercise 2014 Mississauga Team South American Games 2010 Medellín Team 2010 Medellín Floor exercise 2010 Medellín Vault South American Championships 2011 Santiago Team 2011 Santiago Floor exercise 2011 Santiago Vault

Early life

Hypólito was born in Santo André, in the ABC Region, Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, but moved to the city of Rio de Janeiro. He is the son of a bus driver named Wagner Hypólito and a seamstress named Geni Matias.[5] He has Greek ancestry from his father (The surname Hypólito comes from the Greek surname Hippolyte, which was translated because the ancestors of his family had immigrated to Brazil), he also has Portuguese ancestry coming from his maternal family.[6][7][8]

As a child he had his first contact with the sport at the Flamengo Rowing Club, the same one his sister Daniele Hypólito used to train. At her insistence, he specialized in solo exercises, in which he won his first titles as infantil and later as júnior.[9]

Career

Hypólito began gymnastics at the age of seven, following in his older sister's footsteps. He won the floor exercise event in the children's division at the Brazilian National Championships in 1997 and was the all-around junior National Champion in 2001.[10]

By the age of 21, Hypólito had competed in five World Gymnastics Championships, in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. A floor exercise specialist, he qualified for the FX event finals in all five competitions, placing fifth in 2002, fourth in 2003, earning the gold medal in 2005, the silver medal in 2006, and the gold again in 2007. With his 2005 win, Hypólito became the first male South American gymnast to medal at Worlds.

In the spring of 2008, Hypólito contracted dengue fever.[11] However, he was able to recover and resume training in time to compete at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where he was Brazil's only MAG representative. In the preliminary round of competition, he performed on floor and vault, and qualified to the floor event final in first place with a score of 15.950.[12] In the floor finals, he fell on his last tumbling pass to finish the meet in 6th place.[13]

Hypólito was one of three male Brazilians in artistic gymnastics at the 2012 Summer Olympics, but he was eliminated during the qualification stage. However, in the 2016 Summer Olympics, held in his home country, he finished fourth in qualification for the floor exercise, and won a silver medal in the individual event final.

Eponymous skills

Hypólito has one skill on floor exercise officially named after him called the Hypólito on floor, which was successfully completed when he won the gold medal on the individual floor event at the 2006 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Final in São Paulo, Brazil, defeating the then reigning Olympic floor champion, Kyle Shewfelt of Canada, in the process. The skill is a full-twisting Arabian double (front) layout and was assigned a D-score of F (0.6).

Personal life

Hypólito came out as gay in May 2019. In an article for UOL Esporte, Hypólito described many years of struggling with his sexuality because of his deeply religious upbringing, but wrote, "I want people to know that I'm gay and that I'm not ashamed of it."[14]

References

1. Globo Esporte (in Portuguese)
2. "Diego Hypólito é primeiro brasileiro campeão mundial de ginástica" Murilo Garavello, UOL, 26 November 2005
3. "Dani leva o ouro no salto em SP; Diego mantém alto nível, mas é prata no solo". sportv.com (in Portuguese). May 21, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
4. "Brazil's Hypolito, Nory take silver and bronze in men's floor exercise". Retrieved 2016-08-14.
5. "Brazil's Hypolito, Nory take silver and bronze in men's floor exercise". Retrieved 2016-08-14.
6. "Official website". Archived from the original on 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
7. "Dani leva o ouro no salto em SP; Diego mantém alto nível, mas é prata no solo". sportv.com. 21 May 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
8. AP "Gymnastics world champ Diego Hypolito confirmed with dengue in Brazil" Associated Press, April 7, 2008
9. "Diego Hypolito - site". DiegoHypolito. Archived from the original on 2007-11-12. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
10. "Official website". Archived from the original on 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
11. AP "Gymnastics world champ Diego Hypolito confirmed with dengue in Brazil" Associated Press, April 7, 2008
12. MAG qualification scores--apparatus NBC Olympics, August 9, 2008
13. Results – Floor Men's Floor Exercise Final Archived 2008-08-20 at the Wayback Machine Beijing, August 17, 2008
14. Hypolito, Diego (8 May 2019). "Quero falar uma coisa". Universo Online Esporte (in Portuguese). Universo Online. Retrieved 8 May 2019.

External links

• Diego Hypólito at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Official profile at the Brazilian Gymnastics Federation
• Official website
• Profile at International Gymnast magazine