Diogo Soares (gymnast)

Diogo Brajão Soares (born 12 April 2002) is a Brazilian artistic gymnast and a member of the national team. He participated in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and the 2019 Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Early life
Diogo Soares started gymnastics at the age of 4. His sister, Driele, is a former gymnast.

Junior gymnastics career
Soares' first major international competition was the 2016 Pan American Championships where he won a silver medal with the Brazilian team. In 2018, Soares competed at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, earning a bronze medal in the all-around and a silver medal in the horizontal bar. At the 2019 Junior World Championships he earned a silver medal on rings.

2020
Soares became age-eligible for senior-level competition in 2020. He made his senior international debut at the 2020 American Cup where he placed seventh. The remainder of competitions were either canceled or postponed, including the 2020 Olympic Games, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic

2021
Soares returned to competition at the 2021 Pan American Championships where he helped Brazil finish first as a team. Individually Soares won bronze in the all-around behind Caio Souza and Paul Juda; as a result he earned Brazil a non-nominative Olympic berth. Additionally he won bronze on parallel bars. Soares was selected to represent Brazil at the 2020 Olympic Games alongside Souza, Francisco Barretto Júnior, and Arthur Mariano. While there Soares helped Brazil finish ninth as a team during qualifications. Individually he qualified to the all-around final where he ultimately finished twentieth.

2022–23
At the 2022 Pan American Championships Soares helped Brazil finish second. In October he competed at the South American Games, helping Brazil win gold as a team. Individually he won bronze on horizontal bar. Later that month he competed at the World Championships where he helped Brazil finish seventh as a team. Individually he placed seventeenth in the all-around.

Soares competed at the 2023 World Championships where Brazil finished thirteenth during qualifications and failed to qualify a full team to the 2024 Olympic Games. However, due to Soares finishing as one of the top eight all-around gymnasts not part of a qualified team, he earned himself an individual Olympic berth. A few weeks later Soares competed at the 2023 Pan American Games where he helped Brazil finish third as a team. Individually he won silver in the all-around behind Félix Dolci.

2024
Soares started the year competing at the Antalya World Challenge Cup and the Doha World Cup; he won silver on horizontal bar in Antalya. In May he competed at the Pan American Championships where he helped Brazil place first. Individually he won gold on pommel horse and horizontal bar and silver on parallel bars.