Rebeca Andrade takes silver in individual all-around gymnastics

Rebeca Andrade won the silver medal in a historic clash with American Simone Biles, who took gold in the women’s individual all-around final in artistic gymnastics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The bronze medal went to Sunisa Lee, also from the US, who had won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

The Brazilian gymnast repeated her feat from Tokyo 2020, when she also won silver in the discipline.

The competition comprises four apparatuses: vault, parallel bars, beam, and floor, and the final score is the sum of the marks obtained by the athletes in each of them.

Biles scored 59.131 points, followed by Andrade with 57.932 and Sunisa Lee with 56.465.

Her achievement makes her the Brazilian with the most Olympic medals—four in total (gold in the vault at Tokyo 2020, silver in the individual all-around at Tokyo 2020, team bronze at Paris 2024, and silver in the individual all-around at Paris 2024).

The other Brazilian to qualify for the final, Flávia Saraiva, came 9th with 54.032 points. This was her first appearance in the all-around final.

Future

Speaking about her performance in the final, Andrade said mental control was key to achieving a good result: “I was really calm in this competition. I was able to do every movement, to think carefully about each movement I was doing. And that’s essential in managing to keep control of our bodies. I think that’s why I got this result—an excellent result. I’m really happy.”

Asked about her future, the 25-year-old hinted at the possibility of no longer competing in the individual all-around. “It’s difficult for me to do the individual all-around. It’s been three days of competition doing all four apparatuses. It’s pretty tough as it is, and after my injuries it got slightly more difficult. But I don’t think it’s easy, for any athlete, regardless of any injuries. It’s really difficult to do the individual all-around.”