The Brazilian artistic gymnastics team finished eighth in the team final at the Rio 2016 Games. The girls' greatest victory was qualifying for the final, placing them among the best athletes in the sport in the world. For this feat, the best position the country has ever achieved in history, the same as in Beijing 2008, Team Brazil included four gymnasts from Flamengo: Daniele Hypolito, Jade Barbosa, Rebeca Andrade and Flavia Saraiva. With the exception of Flavinha, who will visit Casa Flamengo this Thursday (17), at 9:30 am, Dani, Jade and Rebeca went to the Salão Nobre on the morning of this Wednesday (16).

Back in Gávea after an honorable participation in the Olympics, the girls met with reporters, reunited with their Flamengo teammates, and took photos with fans present. Also present were the club's coaches, Ricardo Pereira, Keli Kitaura, and Rhayane de Araújo, the Olympic land sports manager and former gymnast Luisa Parente, and Georgette Vidor, coordinator of the Brazilian National Gymnastics Team.

Daniele Hypolito, who competed in her fifth Olympics, spoke about the emotion of performing in front of Brazilian fans.

"It was great to be able to compete in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Being at home, with the fans, the affection with which gymnastics was received. We just have to thank everyone who supported gymnastics, all the messages, all the affection we received from the public. There are no words that can explain the feeling of competing at home in such an important event," said the veteran, who also praised the behavior of the audience.

"I was impressed by how the crowd understood. When they called our names, the crowd screamed, but when we got on the apparatus, everyone went silent, clapping when they had to... I was enchanted by our fans. I've always thought that, there's no fan base in the world like ours, but at the Olympics we could see how the Brazilian crowd cheers together, vibrates with us, suffers with us, is there with us. There are no words to explain how wonderful it was to compete at home," she said.

"I was very happy to see Flamengo's progress in terms of the club, the gym, and the grassroots work being done. This is very important, and the club has always had a tradition of not only having athletes on the soccer team. Seeing the kids becoming more and more interested, the demand for Flamengo... That's Flamengo! That's the care the club has for all sports," he concluded.

"It's great to be able to provide some peace of mind to the girls, and when I help, I feel more at ease too, since I stay busy between races. And that makes a big difference in a team; staying united at all times is good. It's important for the team to have two generations. In our case, there are three: Dani, myself, and the younger girls. I feel that makes a difference. I've been through it. Dani and Laís (Souza) were my guides, my role models, and today being able to provide that to other girls is great," she said.

"This Olympics prepared us, made us very strong, not only because of the knowledge, but also because of the gymnasiums, it is well structured, so the girls will be able to train for four years like this for Tokyo. We trained for a year and a half with this structure and had very good results, imagine with the entire cycle," she concluded.

*Collaborated under the supervision of Isabela Abirached.