Diego Matias Hypólito (; born 19 June 1986) is a Brazilian

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

, the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and 2007 World Champion in the

floor exercise In gymnastics, the floor is a specially prepared exercise surface, which is considered an apparatus. It is used by both male and female gymnasts. The gymnastics event performed on the floor is called floor exercise. The English abbreviation for t ...

. He is the first male gymnast from Brazil, and South America, to win a medal at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. He also won 63 medals in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. Hypólito has represented Brazil at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

. He received the silver medal in floor exercise at the 2016 Olympic Games. He is the brother of

Daniele Hypólito Daniele Matias Hypólito (born 8 September 1984) is a Brazilian gymnast who competed at the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and the 2016 Olympic Games. Hypólito is the first gymnast from Brazil to win a medal at the World Championships, a silver in fl ...

, the first Brazilian gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships.

Early life

Hypólito was born in

Santo André, São Paulo Santo André (, ''Saint Andrew'') is a Brazilian municipality located in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. It is part of a group of municipalities known as the ABC Region. According to the most recent census, the population is estimated at ...

, but moved to the city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. He is the son of a bus driver, Wagner Hypólito, and a seamstress, Geni Matias. He has Greek ancestry through his father (the surname Hypólito comes from the Greek surname

Hippolyte In Classical Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; grc-gre, Ἱππολύτη ''Hippolytē'') was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope (Amazon) , Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' Zo ...

, which was translated when his ancestors had immigrated to Brazil); he is also of Portuguese descent, through his mother. As a child, he had his first contact with the sport at the Flamengo Rowing Club, the same one his sister,

Daniele Daniele is an Hebrew male given name, the cognate of the English name Daniel. Danièle is a French female given name, an alternative spelling of Danielle. Men with the given name Daniele * Daniele Bracciali (born 1978), Italian tennis player * ...

, used to train. At her insistence, he specialized in solo exercises, in which he won his first titles as ''infantil'' and later as ''júnior''.

Career

Hypólito began gymnastics at age seven, following in his older sister's footsteps. He won the floor exercise event in the children's division at 1997's Brazilian National Championships and was 2001's all-around junior national champion. By the age of 21, Hypólito had competed at the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

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

. In the spring of 2008, Hypólito contracted

dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characterist ...

. 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. In the floor finals, he fell on his last tumbling pass to finish the meet in sixth place. 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 The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, 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 Kyle Keith Shewfelt (born May 6, 1982 in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian gymnast. His gold medal in the men's floor exercise competition at the 2004 Athens Olympics was the first-ever medal for a Canadian in an artistic gymnastics event and was ...

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 Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as gay in May 2019. In an article for

UOL Esporte Universo Online (Portuguese for "Online Universe") (known by the acronym UOL) is a Brazilian web content, products and services company. It belongs to Grupo Folha enterprise. In 2012, UOL was the fifth most visited website in Brazil, below only ...

, 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."

References

External links

* *
Profile at ''International Gymnast'' magazine
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hypolito, Diego 1986 births Living people Brazilian Protestants People from Santo André, São Paulo Brazilian people of Greek descent Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian male artistic gymnasts LGBT gymnasts Brazilian LGBT sportspeople LGBT Protestants Gay sportsmen World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts at the 2003 Pan American Games Gymnasts at the 2007 Pan American Games Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2011 Pan American Games Gymnasts at the 2012 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of Brazil Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics Pan American Games gold medalists for Brazil Pan American Games silver medalists for Brazil Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in gymnastics Pan American Games medalists in gymnastics South American Games gold medalists for Brazil South American Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 2010 South American Games LGBT Pentecostals Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 21st-century LGBT people Sportspeople from São Paulo (state)