Diogo Ribeiro, the Portuguese swimmer who made history for Portugal by becoming the world champion in men’s 50m and 100m butterfly at the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Qatar, has already set his sights on his next big goal: winning an Olympic medal.
This is what he told journalists after arriving at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport on Monday with the Portuguese flag around his shoulders and his two gold medals around his neck.
“I won’t stop working until I win an Olympic medal,” Ribeiro, 19, told the press. “I must keep working and continue being humble, which I think I am. Every time I win a medal, I want to keep working more.”
The young swimmer was so overjoyed about his achievements at the World Aquatics Championships that he went to bed that night with his medals under his pillow.
“However, the next day, the 50m medal was broken. It must have been someone from the cleaning staff who went there and dropped it. But thankfully I was able to get a new one,” he told the journalists at the airport.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has congratulated Ribeiro on his latest feat, hailing “not only his physical and technical qualities and mental ability” but also his “determination, strength and unlimited resistance.”
