It looks like Simone Biles has finally met her match this season in the form of a Brazilian gymnast star!
Rebecca Andrade has often been compared to Biles for her jaw-dropping strength and gravity-defying moves. Having debuted around the same time at the Olympics as Biles, the 25-year-old has quite a lot of similarities between herself and the American GOAT.
A series of unfortunate events, including three ACL tears that plagued Andrade throughout her career, almost put a stop to her dreams. However, she was resilient enough to not just focus on healing and getting strong but also channel all her energy into one goal – crushing it at the Paris Olympics.
After a terrific team performance where Brazil won the Bronze at the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, she went on to put on a stellar show in the Individual All-around category.
It was evident that Andrade had carried the team on her back because fans had their jaws on the floor watching her battle out in the individual competition.
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Biles, who was pitted against her for the second time, was in shock, to say the least. Watching her Brazilian counterpart get so close to her in competition fueled her competitive spirit.
While she walked away with the gold eventually, she didn’t mince her words around while talking about Andrade in a post-victory press conference.
“For me, personally, tonight, it means the world to me, and it’s just so crazy. I don’t wanna compete with Rebecca no more! I’m tired!”
Laughter echoed around the room as she smiled at how a close competition got her putting in all of her efforts. She confessed that Andrade happened to be the only athlete who had the strength and skill that matched up to hers.
“I’m getting uncomfortable guys! I don’t like that feeling, I was stressing!”
Both the gymnasts went through all the four apparatuses, and the Brazilian and the American were just a few points away from each other. In fact, Andrade even caught up to Biles and beat her in one of the events during the team competition.
During the women’s artistic gymnastics team event, Brazil was falling behind other teams until Andrade popped in and crushed it on the vault on rotation 4. Before that, Biles held the highest score of 14.900, which no one could surpass, but the Brazilian’s shocking 15.100 boosted the country’s standings on the roster.
Both athletes have always expressed their mutual respect for one another, and during the Paris Olympics, even revealed their excitement to see each other perform.
Glimpses of Andrade and Biles hyping each other up during their presentations set examples of true sportsmanship and how healthy competition was far superior to animosity.
