Rebeca Andrade

Andrade made her international debut at the Junior Pan American Championships where she helped Brazil win the team silver medal behind Canada.[8] Individually, she won the gold medal in the all-around, on vault, and on the floor exercise, and she won the bronze medal on the balance beam.[9][10][11][12] She then at the Junior South American Championships in Cochabamba where she placed first with the Brazilian team and in the individual all-around.[13][14] She also competed at the Brazil Trophy, where she edged out Olympians including Jade Barbosa and Daniele Hypólito to claim the all-around title.[15]

Andrade began her 2013 season at the Nadia Comăneci Invitational in Oklahoma City, and she won the gold medal in the junior all-around.[16] In August, she competed again at the Junior South American Championships, and the Brazilian team won the gold medal. Individually, Andrade won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Lorrane Oliveira and Flávia Saraiva. She also won the gold medal on vault and uneven bars, and she won the silver medal on the balance beam behind Saraiva.[17] In November, she competed at the Gymnasiade, which were held in Brasília. The Brazilian team won the silver medal behind Russia, and Andrade won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Alla Sosnitskaya and Flávia Saraiva. In the event finals, she won the gold medal on vault and placed sixth on the floor exercise.[18][19]

In February, Andrade began the season by competing at the WOGA Classic in Plano, Texas, and she won the gold in the all-around, on vault, and on uneven bars, and she won the silver with the team, on balance beam, and floor exercise.[20] She later competed at the Junior Pan American Championships in Aracaju where she helped team Brazil win the silver medal behind Canada.[21] Individually, she won the silver in the all-around and on floor exercise both behind Flávia Saraiva, and she won the gold on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam.[22][23] She was initially scheduled to represent Brazil at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.[24] However, she withdrew due to a broken toe, and she was replaced by teammate Flávia Saraiva.[25]

Andrade made her senior international debut at the Ljubljana World Cup where she won the bronze medal on the uneven bars behind Isabela Onyshko and Jonna Adlerteg.[26] She then went to the São Paulo World Cup and won the silver medal on vault behind Deng Yalan, and she placed seventh on the uneven bars.[27][28] She then went to the Flanders International Team Challenge in Ghent where a mixed team of Brazilian and Italian gymnasts won the bronze medal.[29] In the all-around, she won the silver medal behind Flavia Saraiva.[30] In June, Andrade tore her ACL which caused her to miss the Pan American Games and the World Championships.[31]

Andrade returned to competition at the City of Jesolo Trophy. She competed on the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam and helped the Brazilian team win the silver medal behind the United States.[32] She qualified for the uneven bars event final where she finished eighth.[33] She then competed at the Doha World Cup and won the silver medal on the uneven bars behind Jonna Adlerteg.[34]

She was selected to compete at the Olympic Test Event alongside Jade Barbosa, Daniele Hypólito, Lorrane Oliveira, Carolyne Pedro, and Flavia Saraiva to attempt to qualify Brazil a team spot at the Olympic Games.[35] Andrade competed on vault and uneven bars only, and she performed a double-twisting Yurchenko vault and a clean uneven bars routine.[36] The Brazilian team won the gold medal in the team event and qualified a full team to the 2016 Summer Olympics.[37][38] Individually, she qualified for the uneven bars final, where she won the bronze medal behind Germans Elisabeth Seitz and Sophie Scheder.[39]

She then competed at the São Paulo World Cup, where she qualified for the uneven bars and balance beam finals. In the uneven bars final, she tied with German Kim Bui for the silver medal.[40] The next day on the balance beam, she won the bronze medal behind Daniele Hypólito and Simona Castro.[41] She then went to the Anadia World Cup where she won two silver medals on balance beam and floor exercise, both behind Flavia Saraiva.[42][43]

After the Anadia World Cup, Andrade was named to represent Brazil at the 2016 Summer Olympics alongside Jade Barbosa, Daniele Hypólito, Lorrane Oliveira, and Flavia Saraiva.[44] Her final competition in preparation for the Olympics was a friendly meet in the Netherlands on July 10 where she tied with Dutch gymnast Eythora Thorsdottir for the gold medal in the all-around.[45]

Andrade competing on the floor exercise at the 2016 Olympic Games.

At the 2016 Olympics, Andrade performed well in the qualification round, and helped Brazil qualify for the team finals in fifth place, and she qualified individually to the all-around final in third place with a total score of 58.732 behind American gymnasts Simone Biles and Aly Raisman.[46][47] During the team finals, Andrade fell on the floor exercise, and the Brazilian team finished eighth.[48] In the individual all-around, she finished eleventh with a total score of 56.965.[49]

After the Olympics, Andrade competed at the Brazilian Championships in November. She won the gold medal with the Flamengo club team, in the all-around, on the uneven bars, and on the balance beam, and she won the silver medal on the floor exercise behind Thais Fidelis.[50]

Andrade began her season at the City of Jesolo Trophy and the Brazilian team won the silver medal behind the United States. Andrade won the silver medal in the all-around behind American gymnast Riley McCusker.[51] In the event finals, she finished fifth on the uneven bars, sixth on the balance beam, and fourth on the floor exercise.[52] She then competed at the Koper Challenge Cup and won the gold medal on vault.[53] Then at the Osijek Challenge Cup, she only competed on the uneven bars, but she did not qualify for the event final.[54]

In May, Andrade injured her ankle during training and had to wear a protective boot for two months.[2] She returned to competition in August at the Brazilian Championships where she only competed on the uneven bars and won the gold medal.[55] She then competed at the Varna Challenge Cup and won the gold medal on both the vault and the uneven bars.[56]

Andrade was initially named to the World Championships team along with first-year senior Thais Fidelis; however, she tore her ACL during the warmups for podium training and withdrew.[57][58]

Andrade returned to competition in September at the 2018 Pan American Championships. She only competed on two events, the vault and uneven bars, and she helped the Brazilian team win the silver medal behind the United States.[59] She was then named to the Brazilian team for the 2018 World Championships alongside Jade Barbosa, Thais Fidelis, Lorrane Oliveira, and Flavia Saraiva. Andrade made her World Championships debut and competed on the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam, and Brazil qualified for the team final in fifth place.[60] In the team final, the Brazilian team finished seventh after Andrade, Barbosa, and Saraiva all fell on the uneven bars.[61] After the World Championships, Andrade competed at the 2018 Cottbus World Cup where she won the gold medal on vault and balance beam and the silver medal on uneven bars behind Nina Derwael.[62]

Andrade competed at the 2019 DTB Team Challenge in Stuttgart where she helped the Brazilian team win team gold, and she won the all-around gold medal.[63] At the Brazilian Championships, Andrade tore her ACL for the third time in her career.[64] This ended her 2019 season and caused her to miss the 2019 World Championships.[31] At the World Championships, the Brazilian team without Andrade finished fourteenth and did not qualify a team to the 2020 Olympic Games.[65][3]

Andrade made her comeback at the 2020 Baku World Cup where she finished third on uneven bars behind Fan Yilin and Anastasia Ilyankova and second on balance beam behind Urara Ashikawa during qualifications and therefore qualified to the event finals.[66] However, the event finals were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Azerbaijan.[67] In July, Andrade and numerous other Brazilian Olympic hopefuls traveled to Portugal as they were unable to resume training due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil remaining unstable and gyms remaining closed.[68] In December 2020, she tested positive for COVID-19 but was asymptomatic.[69]

Andrade returned to competition at the 2021 Pan American Championships. The Brazilian team of Andrade, Christal Bezerra, Ana Luiza Lima, Lorrane Oliveira, and Julia Soares won the gold medal. Individually, Andrade won the gold medal in the all-around with a total score of 56.700.[70] This result earned her and Luciana Alvarado the continental quota spots for the 2020 Olympic Games.[3]

Andrade (left) with her coach Francisco Porath (right) at the 2020 Olympic Games.

In the qualification round, Andrade qualified in third place to the vault final, fourth to floor exercise final, and second to the all-around final.[71] Following Simone Biles’ withdrawal, Andrade entered the all-around final as the top qualifier. After leading the competition in the first two rotations of the all-around final, Andrade won silver in the all-around after stepping out of bounds on two of her floor passes. This was the first-ever Olympic medal for a female Brazilian artistic gymnast.[72]

Setting another record for her country, she won the gold medal in the vault final with an average score of 15.083.[73] This made her the first Olympic champion in Brazilian women's artistic gymnastics history.[74]

In the floor final, Andrade placed fifth with a score of 14.033 after stepping out of bounds on two of her tumbling passes. Reflecting on her success at the Games, Andrade told reporters, "[T]his is not only for me but for the whole of Brazil. I want to inspire younger kids with my achievements... It's not just the medals. I made everybody proud of me."[7] She was chosen to be the flag bearer for Brazil at the closing ceremony.[75]

Andrade continued training after the Olympic Games, and at the Brazilian Championships, she helped her club win the team gold medal, and she also won the gold medal in the all-around.[76] At the World Championships in Kitakyushu, she competed on the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. She chose not to compete on the floor exercise in order to preserve her health.[77] She qualified for all three event finals. She finished first on both the vault with an average score of 14.800 and on the uneven bars with a score of 15.100, and she finished eighth on the balance beam.[78][79][80] She became the first Brazilian gymnast to ever qualify for a World uneven bars event final.[81]

In the vault final, she won the gold medal with an average score of 14.966- nearly a full point ahead of silver medalist Asia D'Amato.[82] This was Brazil's second women's gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships- the first being Daiane dos Santos's gold medal on the floor exercise in 2003.[5] Then in the uneven bars final, she scored a 14.633 and won the silver medal behind Chinese gymnast Wei Xiaoyuan, and she became the first Brazilian gymnast to win a World medal on the uneven bars.[83][5] On the next day, she finished sixth in the balance beam event final, tying the best-ever finish of a Brazilian woman on this event with Flávia Saraiva in 2019.[84][81]