Divulgation/ Source: Agência Brasil Fotografia/ Flickr
Last Sunday, 14 August, was the first day of the artistic gymnastics individual finals, and supporters of Team Brazil and Team GB had their hearts in their mouths.
The highlight was the floor equipment. The athletes were pretty much flying over the mattresses, with stupidly difficult acrobatics. The extremely tight competition remained undecided until the final performance.
Two Brazilian athletes went away with Olympic medals, with a lovely aftertaste of having overcome previous hardships. Diego Hypólito, went through a period of depression after falling at the last two Olympics. He was the double World Champion going into the 2008 Games, and favourite for gold, before his unfortunate fall. He went through a process of psychological counselling, and of course lots of intense training sessions, and was able to compete at his home Games, feeling confident and secure in himself. His reward: a silver medal, and his first at the Olympics.
Another Brazilian who has made his country proud is Arthur Nori, who won bronze in the same category as Diego. Arthur has been a great surprise, as he is still a young athlete with his career in front of him, but he managed to show his talent and grit on the biggest stage of all, which all bodes well for his future in the sport.
Rounding off this team of champions is the Brit Max Whitlock, who deservedly took the gold medal. Max entered British gymnastic history, as he won two gold medals in just a matter of a few hours – on the floor and the pommel horse.
A day for the Brazilian and British history books at the Rio 2016 Games!
