Diego Hypólito

Who is Diego Hypólito?

Diego Matias Hypólito 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 medal at the World Championships. He is also the younger brother of Daniele Hypólito, the first Brazilian gymnast ever to medal at Worlds.

Born in Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil, Hypólito began gymnastics at the age of 7, 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.

At 21, Hypólito has 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. 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 6th place.