August 5, Paris: Women’s artistic gymnastics floor finals. Rebeca Andrade was ‘close’. Yes, she was. Not only to the gold medal but also to Simone Biles. So much so that even the GOAT herself could not conceal her worry. While waiting for the score after performing, Simone was heard saying on camera, “I think she got that one. I think Rebeca got this one,” while also adding, “Oh, I’m scared.” Correct she was.

Scoring 14.166, Rebeca snatched the gold, bringing her Olympic medal count to 6, as she narrowly edged out Simone, who stood at 14.333. This was not Rebeca’s first Olympic gold. But this was extra special. Was this only because she added one more to the kitty? Probably not.

Rebeca earned this gold toppling the GOAT, and simultaneously, it was on the Olympic stage. Yes, she did win the vault gold in the Tokyo Olympics. But Simone had already withdrawn from that competition. The 2023 World Championships was one more reminder when she again got the vault gold, this time toppling Simone. But the Olympics are different. In Paris, Rebeca reestablished the fact that she can win on the highest stage even when Simone is competing. So Simone rightfully talked of passing the baton to Rebeca to “have the next.”

But a little less than two months ahead of this triumph, Rebeca was not even in the frame of mind to hold the baton, forget carrying it forward. Revealing those dwindling moments, Rebeca took to her Instagram, penning down a long and touching post.

Back in March 2024, she was feeling weighed down by criticism and uncertainty. Out of that, she wrote a farewell letter to gymnastics on her phone, convinced that Paris would mark the end of her Olympic journey. “I was sure that this would be my last Olympic cycle; everything would end after Paris,” Rebeca revealed to have written.

The gymnast talked about how harsh words got to her: “Because of a proposal, I was called ungrateful and selfish. Because of a word taken out of context in an interview, they mocked me and said I was in the wrong country, and those things hurt me.” But, instead of letting the negativity win, she found strength in the support around her. “Because of a hug, I didn’t give up. Because of a conversation, I evolved.”

When Rebeca Andrade and Simone Biles made history at the Paris Olympics, one of the most heartwarming moments was when Rebeca rushed to give Simone a hug right after the scores for the floor exercise were announced. A video of the scene captured the excitement, humorously captioned, “Rebeca Andrade doing parkour to hug Simone Biles at the Paris Olympics 2024.“

Looking back now, Rebeca is proud of how far she’s come, not just in the sport but as a person. “I conquered my barriers, I conquered my negative thoughts, I conquered my bad days,” she says, reflecting on her personal growth. She’s also grateful for her family’s sacrifices and all she’s achieved in gymnastics: “I am proud to have etched my name into the history of my sport, on the hearts of those here and those yet to come.”

Although she once thought her future would take her away from gymnastics, she now sees it differently: “I thought that this year I would come here to put an end to my gymnastics career, but it looks like I have other goals and plans to follow.” Now, as the greatest Olympian in her country’s history, she embraces the role of being a role model, saying, “The feeling and responsibility that comes naturally from being a role model… it’s an honor!” Georgette Vidor, a gymnastics coach at the club in Rio de Janeiro where Andrade currently trains, pointed out the same.

Rebeca’s success has brought a heightened interest and in gymnastics in the football-dominated Brazil. “The girls [in the gym] were ecstatic and jumping up and down. It is so important for them to see this. They dream of having a better life through the sport,” Vidor said. Indeed as Vidor pointed out, because of financial constraints, many talented gymnasts in Brazil are lost, not even being identified. Vidor says that most of the high-achieving gymnasts she has trained in the last 40+ years have been from low-income backgrounds.

In 2023, the monthly fee for 3 gymnastics lessons per week at Flamengo was of $523 reais — about $92. That’s the equivalent of 40% of the minimum monthly wage in Brazil. So, low-income families have to rely on programs that offer free training. Rebeca herself has her own story of such struggles. Alongside seven siblings, Rebeca grew up in a favela on the outskirts of Guarulhos, São Paulo, one of many overcrowded slums with houses that look like shacks near Brazil’s city centers. It was the bunk beds there, where it all started.

Rebeca would climb the stairs and hand upside down from the bunk beds she shared with her siblings. Incidentally, Rebeca’s aunt started working at a gymnasium in the same week they were holding gymnastics tryouts. She brought Rebeca with her.

The seeds of the history were sown on that point. Rebeca’s talents were immediately spotted earning her the name “Daianinha” or “mini Daiane”, by Daiane dos Santos, a Brazilian gymnast who was the first Black woman and first South American to win a gymnastics medal in the 2003 World Championships. But the struggles were not yet over.

“If I am not mistaken, the distance from our house to the gym was 6 or 7 kilometers [about 3 to 4 miles] with a lot [of hills] going up and down,” said Rebeca’s elder brother, Emerson Rodrigues, in an interview in 2023. Rebeca could pursue her dreams because of an initiative funded by the city of Guarulhos called “Sports Initiation,” which offers sports scholarships to kids from low-income backgrounds like Rebeca.

Vidor believes that Andrade’s current success is a combination of a lot of talent and hard work — but also some luck. “Rebeca is certainly ahead of the curve. But we may never have found her if she was born somewhere else in the country,” Vidor pointed. But, as they say, luck favors those who deserve it the most.

So there stands Rebeca, excited for the future, ready to take some time for herself before coming back stronger. “Sooner or later I will be back!” But to some extent, much credit goes to Simone Biles, who helped revive her gymnastics career.

Simone Biles and Rebeca leave no stone unturned in teamwork triumph
Many rivals despise one another, but Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade cheer each other on just as passionately as they do for themselves. “I’m not fighting against her,” Andrade once shared. “I’m fighting with me to be my best.” Their bond is a refreshing change in a sport that has often been characterized by tense rivalries, particularly between American and Russian gymnasts. Even though they don’t share a common language, Biles and Andrade communicate effortlessly, often relying on exaggerated gestures and beaming smiles.