Rebeca Andrade

Rebeca Rodrigues de Andrade (born 8 May 1999) is a Brazilian artistic gymnast.

Rebeca Andrade was born on 8 May 1999 in Guarulhos.

She is one of eight children of a single mother, Rosa.

Her mother cleaned houses and walked to work in order to pay for Rebeca's gymnastics training.

She began gymnastics when she was four years old after her aunt took her to the gym where she worked.

When she was nine years old she moved to train in Curitiba, and a year later she moved to Rio de Janeiro to train at Flamengo.

She speaks both Portuguese and English, and she is Afro-Brazilian.

Andrade made her international debut when she was thirteen years old at the Junior Pan American Championships.

She helped Brazil win the team silver medal behind Canada and ahead of Mexico.

Individually, she won the gold medal in the all-around, on vault, and the floor exercise, and she won the bronze medal on the balance beam.

Then at the Junior South American Championships in Cochabamba, she placed first with the Brazilian team as well as in the individual all-around.

She also competed at the Brazil Trophy, a domestic competition for both juniors and seniors, where she edged out Olympians including Jade Barbosa and Daniele Hypólito to claim the all-around title.

Andrade is one of only 11 female gymnasts to have medalled on every event in the history of World Championships, and one of only three gymnasts to have done so in the 21st century, alongside Simone Biles and Aliya Mustafina.

Andrade was a member of the teams that won silver at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships; gold at the 2021 Pan American Championships, silver at the 2018 Pan American Championships, and has won a total of six gold medals on the FIG World Cup circuit.

She is the 2012 Junior Pan American champion in the all-around and on vault and floor exercise.

Andrade continued her success at the junior level in 2013.

She began her 2013 season at the Nadia Comăneci Invitational in Oklahoma City, and she won the gold medal in the junior all-around.

In August, she competed at her second Junior South American Championships, and the Brazilian team won the gold medal.

Individually, Andrade won the bronze medal in the all-around behind teammates Lorrane Oliveira and Flávia Saraiva.

She also won the gold medal on vault and uneven bars and the silver medal on the balance beam behind Saraiva.

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.

In February, Andrade began the season by competing at the WOGA Classic in Plano, Texas.

She won the gold in the all-around, on vault, and uneven bars, and she won the silver with the team, on balance beam, and on floor exercise.

She later competed at the Junior Pan American Championships in Aracaju where she helped team Brazil win the silver medal behind Canada.

Individually, she won the silver in the all-around and on floor exercise both behind Flávia Saraiva and the gold on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam.

Additionally, she is the 2014 Junior Pan American champion on the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam.

She was initially scheduled to represent Brazil at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.

However, she withdrew due to a broken toe and was replaced by teammate Flávia Saraiva.

Andrade did not compete for the rest of the 2014 season.

After a successful junior career, Andrade's senior debut in 2015 was cut short by the first of three ACL tears.

Andrade became age-eligible for senior international competitions in 2015.

She returned to competition and represented Brazil at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she placed eleventh in the all-around final.

She tore her ACL for the second time in 2017 but made her World Championships debut in 2018.

After her third ACL tear in 2019, Andrade represented Brazil at the 2020 Summer Olympics and at the 2021 World Championships, where she won the vault gold medal at both events.

She is the most decorated Brazilian gymnast of all time with a total of eleven Olympic and World Championship medals and is considered to be the greatest Latin American gymnast in history.

She is the 2020 Olympic, 2021 and 2023 World champion on the vault and 2022 World all-around champion.

Andrade is the first Brazilian female gymnast to medal at an Olympic Games, and she is only the second Brazilian woman to win a gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

She is also the 2020 Olympic silver medalist, the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships silver medalist and the 2021 Pan American champion in the all-around, and won silver on the uneven bars at the 2021 World Championships, silver on the floor exercise at the 2023 World Championships, bronze on the balance beam at the 2023 World Championships and a bronze on the floor exercise at the 2022 World Championships.