Diego Hypolito goes Japanese

Diego Hypolito

What do you do when you fall in the Olympic floor final and then lose your sponsors? Change your training regimine.

From Xinhua:

Brazilian gymnast adopts Japanese training
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) — Diego Hypolito, the Brazilian gymnast, revealed on Friday his new tactic of training, which is a Japanese style.

The athlete, along with his coach, has decided to adopt a Japanese style of training, designed to give the athlete more time on equipment and less time working out.

After a disappointing performance in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Hypolito realized that something had to change in order to become more competitive. Before the Games actually began, he and his coach, Renato Araujo, traveled to Narita, Japan, in June in order to prepare for the competition.

While there, the two were impressed with the style of training and thought about the possibility of applying it to their routine in Brazil.

“I am going to be able to spend more time on the apparatuses. It will also include a decrease of my training time, giving me more time for physical therapy and for my studies as well. I consider this type of training to be much more dynamic and specific,” said the Brazilian.

“The Japanese are very good when it comes to concentration. This is going to help me to avoid making silly mistakes,” claimed he.

Araujo believes that the new tactic will also help Hypolito to avoid injury. He will work on specific muscle groups in his legs, have more time to warm-up and will spend less time repeating exercises. The gymnast will spend an equal amount of time on each of the six apparatuses in which he competes. Last year, he would arrive at the Flamengo training facility around 7:30 a.m. and would leave nearly twelve hours later.

With his new program, he will train from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m, giving him plenty of time to study and receive physical therapy. He hopes that the new tactic will help him to return to the top of the gymnastic world.

Olympic parade

More and more countries are naming their Olympic qualifiers. Here are the latest, in alphabetical order by country:

Australia:
Women: Daria Joura, Lauren Mitchell, Shona Morgan, Ashleigh Brennan, Georgia Bonora and Olivia Vivian. Alternate: Emma Dennis.

Men: Sam Simpson

Brazil:
Women: Jade Barbosa, Daiane dos Santos, Daniele Hypolito, Lais Souza, Ana Claudia Silva, Ethiene Franco, Juliana Santos

Men: Diego Hypolito

Great Britain:
Women: Beth Tweddle, Becky Downie, Laura Jones, Marissa King, Hannah Whelan, Rebecca Wing. Alternates: Imogen Cairns and Kayleigh Cooke

Men: Louis Smith and Daniel Keatings

Hypolito confirmed with Dengue, will keep training

From The International Herald Tribune:

SAO PAULO, Brazil: Gymnastics world champion Diego Hypolito was diagnosed with dengue fever on Monday, but doctors said the disease will not disrupt his Olympic training.

Test results released by Copa D’Or Hospital in Rio de Janeiro confirmed Hypolito has the mosquito-borne disease, which causes high fevers, severe headaches and joint pains.

The Brazilian athlete had been hospitalized since Thursday.

Hypolito hospitalized with Dengue symptoms

Last week there was the news that World floor champion Diego Hypolito had undergone knee surgery for to repair a meniscus rupture.

Today’s news is far worse.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: Gymnastics world champion Diego Hypolito was receiving a battery of tests to determine if he had fallen victim to the outbreak of dengue fever that has swept Rio de Janeiro.

Hypolito has been hospitalized since Thursday, when he started showing symptoms associated with dengue — high fever, headaches and joint pains — said his spokeswoman Marlene Mattos on Saturday.

Mattos said the first tests on Hypolito were inconclusive. The second round should be early next week.

On Diego Hypolito and other Injured

Two-time World floor champion Diego Hypolito has undergone surgery to repair a modial meniscus rupture in his right knee, the Malaysia Sun reported today.

The short article goes on to speculate whether the injury will affect the Brazilian’s chances to bring home a gold medal on floor in Beijing.

‘It will obviously harm (Hypolito’s preparation). He will miss practices, and practising is always important. He will have to get over it,’ said coach Renato Araujo.

…The procedure took about 80 minutes and was ‘successful’, according to orthopaedist Joao Granjeiro Neto, who carried out the surgery.

I recently spoke with a gymnast who’s torn her meniscus twice. Her experience is that it takes about six weeks before you can pound on it again in training.

So add Hypolito to the list of gymnasts attempting to make miraculous recoveries in time for the summer Olympics.
 

Combinations on men’s floor exercise

An excellent montage of some of the best combination tumbling being done in men’s gymnastics. Featuring Marian Dragulescu, Diego Hypolito, Justin Spring and more.

Impossible is nothing: Diego Hypolito version

English-speaking gymnastics fans may remember the sportswear giant Adidas’s “Impossible is Nothing” commercial that juxtaposed then-U.S. junior Nastia Liukin’s bar routine with Nadia Comaneci’s from 1976.

Nastia and Nadia’s Adidas Commercial:

Adidas has also done Spanish commercials with prominent athletes, in which they draw self-portraits and tell the story of how they came to believe that “impossible is nothing.”

Here’s Brazilian Diego Hypolito’s, talking about leading up to winning the 2005 World Championships on floor exercise.

Steven Legendre’s Hypolito

Newly crowned Junior Pan American Games champ Steven Legendre does something on floor exercise that I’ve been waiting to see in gymnastics for years: A full-in, one and a half out. In the pike position!

So cool.

Nice to know there’ll be someone at the University of Oklahoma carrying on in Jonathan Horton’s crazily difficult footsteps after Horton graduates this year. Legendre seems to be a good candidate — immense difficulty and falls almost as spectacular as the completed tricks themselves.

Update: There’s been some confusion as to whether the above skill is indeed a full-in, one and a half out or a Hypolito (Arabian double pike, full out.) While it is given as a full-in, one and a half out on the quick hits from the 2007 U.S. Championships, I agree that it is indeed a Hypolito. This post wouldn’t be complete, therefore, without honoring the man whom the skill is named for.

Brazilian Diego Hypolito performing an Arabian double pike, full out: