Brazil's Diego Hypolito sobs with joy after Olympic gymnastics prelims

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Diego Hypolito’s tears were a career in the making.

The Brazilian sobbed for at least a minute before collapsing in his coach’s arms after completing his floor exercise in the first qualifying session for men’s gymnastics Saturday. His score of 15.5 will likely be good enough to get him into the floor exercise final but, more importantly, it helped put Brazil in good position to advance to its first team final.

“I’m very happy,” Hypolito said, still beaming almost an hour after the competition ended. “The (floor exercise) final isn’t important for me. The first day and getting Brazil to the final is.”

For years, the 30-year-old Hypolito carried the Brazilian men’s gymnastics program. He was the first Brazilian man to win a medal at the world championships, a gold on floor exercise in 2005. He won the floor title again in 2007.

He hasn’t fared quite as well at the Olympics, however. In 2008, he finished first in qualifying on floor, only to fall in the final and finish sixth. Four years later, he fell in qualifying.

“I’m competing in my third Olympic Games. The first two Olympic Games, I fell on floor,” Hypolito said.

But he’s hopeful for a different outcome at these Games, the first in which Brazil has qualified a full men’s team. Getting into the team final would be a big step for the growing program, and success in the individual events will only add to that.

In addition to Hypolito, who was second in floor qualifying after the first session, Arthur Zanetti will likely make the final on still rings, where he’s the defending Olympic champion, and Francisco Barretto Junior should make high bar final.

Sergio Sasaki and Arthur Mariano should make the all-around final, too.

“(Zanetti) has showed that it's possible to win an (OIympic) title,” Hypolito said. “It helped me to keep on dreaming about a result like that."

And if Hypolito should win an Olympic medal, no doubt the tears will really flow.