Diogo Ribeiro came out of anonymity with bronze at the European Swimming Championships in August and has now earned a place on the media agenda with three world junior titles in Lima (Peru). The young swimmer, 17 years old, won gold in the 50m Mariposa on Sunday morning with a world record.
He had previously been crowned junior world champion in the 50m freestyle, with a time of 21.92 seconds, ahead of Cypriot Nicolas Antoniou and Croatian Jere Hribar. It is a new national record for juniors, very close to the absolute maximum in Portugal (21.90), held by Miguel Nascimento (Benfica). “I didn’t expect to finish in 21 seconds. It’s unbelievable,” the athlete who had already won gold in the 100m Mariposa said in a short statement.
Impressive when you consider that a year ago Diogo had an accident that left him hospitalized with bruises all over his body, burns to his legs, a dislocated shoulder, a broken foot and a chest injury, in addition to the loss of a part of his right index finger (later rebuilt). He had just won a silver medal at the European Junior Swimming Championships in July 2021, in the 100m butterfly, when he was involved in a motorcycle accident. Suddenly, he jumped from the stage to a hospital bed and saw his career jeopardized. “The accident was a lesson. It gave me mental and psychological strength…I think I got a second life,” he said in an interview with Maisfutebol websitewhere he confessed that he had learned from his mistakes: “I thought I was indestructible.”
A year after the serious accident, he won bronze in the 50-meter butterfly at the European Championships in Rome. A historic moment for Portugal, which until then had only two medals in European history – only Alexandre Yokochi (bronze, in 1985) and Alexis Santos (bronze, in 2016). Now followed by three world junior gold medals in Lima, in a brilliant and unforgettable season, including medals at the Mediterranean Games.
At the age of 17, he has already broken national records more than 50 times. At the national championships in April alone, there were six records in the junior category and four absolute records. One of them lasted 13 years. Diogo did the 50m mariposa in 23.69 seconds (which later improved to 23.54), beating Olympic swimmer Simão Morgado, who had been in effect since 2009. The Benfica athlete was also the first Portuguese to complete the 49 seconds (48.96) in the 100-meter freestyle.
In pools since baby
Born on October 27, 2004, Diogo was a baby when he first came into contact with his older sister’s elevator bath. He was four years old when he lost his father – in his memory he tattooed a Star of David on his right shoulder, which he dislocated in the serious accident of July 2021 – and his mother decided to put him in a swim to recover. “concentration”. At the age of eight he started participating in the Regional Circuit of Cadets in Coimbra on behalf of the Beatriz Santos Foundation – Clube. After four years, he moved to Clube Náutico Académico, in whose service he achieved his first regional podium, but it was at the União de Coimbra that medals became part of the young swimmer’s life.
In 2021, he strengthened Benfica’s swimming and was integrated into the Jamor High Performance Center (CAR), where he started training under the guidance of the new national team coach, Brazilian Alberto Silva, better known as Albertinho., who teamed up with Olympic medalists César Cielo and Thiago Pereira in Brazil, then hired by the Portuguese Swimming Federation. And according to Diogo, until some time ago, he threw himself into the water and swam. Now he works in the gym, works on biomechanics, studies turning, finishing, starting technique.
He is part of the Paris 2024 Olympic project and dreams big. He tells anyone who listens to him that he wants to be one of the best in the world and achieve an Olympic medal… goals that until recently seemed like a mirage, but are now taking wings through brutal evolution and an unparalleled achievement in the swimming.
He competes with a cap that reads “Azevedo”, when in fact his name is Diogo Matos Ribeiro. The explanation is simple. The federation had a problem with the supplier of the caps before the absolute Europeans wanted to wear a cap with the Portuguese flag in Rome and Diogo, so he entered the water with the cap of athlete Rafaela Azevedo. He was awarded a historic bronze and decided to keep it as a lucky charm in the junior world cups, where he eventually won three golds.
Source: DN
