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

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and 2007 World Champion in the floor exercise. He is the first male gymnast from Brazil, and South America, to win a medal at the World Championships. He also won 63 medals in the World Cup. Hypólito has represented Brazil at the

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, and 2016 Olympic Games. 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 Summer Olympics, 2000, 2004 Summer Olympics, 2004, 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008, 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 and the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 Olympi ...

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

Early life

Hypólito was born in Santo André, São Paulo, but moved to the city of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. 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, 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, 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,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, 2006 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 World Championships. In the spring of 2008, Hypólito contracted

dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after i ...

. 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 (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, 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." Alomgside his sister Daniele, he entered '' Big Brother Brasil'' as a contestant in its 25th season.

References

External links

* *
Profile at ''International Gymnast'' magazine
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hypolito, Diego 1986 births Living people Brazilian Protestants Sportspeople from Santo André, São Paulo Brazilian people of Greek descent Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Sportspeople of Portuguese descent Brazilian male artistic gymnasts LGBTQ gymnasts Brazilian gay sportsmen LGBTQ Protestants 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 for 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 gold medalists in gymnastics Pan American Games silver medalists in gymnastics South American Games gold medalists for Brazil South American Games medalists in gymnastics Competitors at the 2010 South American Games LGBTQ Pentecostals Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games 21st-century Brazilian LGBTQ people 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen