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Gymnast Diego Hypolito had another good reason this Saturday to shake off the insecurity he's been feeling lately. With a beautiful performance, Diego won gold in the floor exercise final at the Osijek World Cup in Croatia. The result guarantees the Brazilian his first four-time Super Final champion title.

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"I was very happy to have had a good race and to have managed to regain my composure. I'm more than happy to have won my fourth championship, an unprecedented title, which was my main goal. It was a year of many victories," Diego told SporTV by phone. 

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At the London World Championships in October, nerves prevented Diego Hypolito from winning his third championship. But after mistakes that even left him out of the final in England, the Brazilian went to Croatia determined not to make any mistakes and managed to win the floor event and, in addition, secure his fourth championship in advance with 15,550 points. The silver medal went to Croatian Tomislav Markovic, who scored 15,225 points. Israeli Alexander Shatilov scored 14,925 and took bronze. Also Brazilian, Victor Rosa finished fifth (14,325 points).

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"It was a very good race, maybe the best this year. I even think I could have gotten a higher score. In the qualifiers, I got 15,675 points, and I thought this final series was better," commented the Brazilian, who was also champion in 2004, 2006, and 2008.

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 The Super Final title is awarded to the athlete who earns the most points in the World Cup rankings in each category. With his victory in Croatia, the Brazilian gymnast now has 180 points in the floor exercise standings and no other athlete has a chance of being overtaken. Regardless, Diego will still compete in the final stage of the circuit in Stuttgart.

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Diego is out of contention in the jump

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The happiness is not complete because the four-time champion had to forgo the title fight in vault. Second in the rankings in this category, Diego will not be able to compete in Stuttgart because he has not yet fully recovered from the injury to his left shoulder.

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"I still have a bit of pain in my shoulder, but now it's more a matter of physical preparation. The big problem is that the doctor hasn't cleared me to compete in vault. For now, I can only compete in floor exercise. Now I can only hope to stay in second place and wait until next year to compete for the vault title."

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Check out Diego's medals from the 2009 season!
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\ March (Cottbus-Germany) – Silver on floor and silver on vault
\ April (Maribor-Slovenia) - Gold in the soil
\ May (Glasgow-Scotland) – Gold on floor and gold on vault
\ May (Moscow – Russia) – Gold in the soil
\ November (Osijek-Croatia) – Gold in the soil