“I am very proud of all of our results and everything that we did here in the competition.
Brazil made in gymnastics, I mean a beautiful performance.”
Interestingly, despite having come in second, Biles seemed proud of her South American competitor.
“Rebeca, she’s so amazing.
She’s a queen,” Biles told reporters (perOlympics).
Biles and Andrade are not just sports rivals they are also friends.
In fact, it would take years for the two gymnasts to finally compete against each other.
Leading up to the 2015 World Cup and Pan American Games, Andrade tore her right ACL.
This devastating injury meant that Andrade had to undergo surgery and sit out of major competitions.
“She told me, ‘Don’t give up.
And you’re going to get past this.'”
Seeing that Biles had medaled across the board that year, Andrade took her advice seriously.
The Brazilian considered what the American champion had said and decided not to give up.
Prior to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the Brazilian became one of the best gymnasts in the world.
Behind the scenes, though, both Andrade and Biles were struggling.
In the end, Biles decided to drop out of the Olympics to focus on her mental health.
Andrade, meanwhile, pushed through and cinched second place in the women’s all-around.
She also earned gold on the vault.
This tournament established the Brazilian as one of Biles’ biggest competitors.
Andrade, who performed a beautiful Cheng to near perfection, earned a whopping 15.000 on her second jump.
When the final scores where revealed, Andrade appeared thrilled yet shocked.
After all, she had become the first gymnast to defeat Biles on the vault since 2015.
On the contrary, the two gymnasts were filmed holding hands when the final results were announced.
Afterward, Andrade told the press that she could never see Biles' fall as a good thing.
She went on to praise Biles for attempting a jump as complex as the Yurchenko.
“I don’t have the body for that,” Andrade admitted.
Per Biles, Andrade provides her with an important sense of motivation.
And, Biles has been extremely complimentary to Andrade during her interviews and public appearances.
Andrade, meanwhile, earned silver.
“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more.
I’m tired,” Biles joked, according toCNN.
“She’s way too close.
It was uncomfortable, guys.
I was stressing.”
When asked who she considered to be her biggest competition, the athlete responded, “Rebeca Andrade.
She scares me the most” (viaSportskeeda).
Reacting to this, Andrade told reporters, “I don’t think it was a negative fear.
As she [Biles] said before, we incentivize each other to be better and better.
That’s what she sees in me and what I see in her …
I’m really glad, and I feel the same way about her” (viaX).
Rebeca Andrade also views Biles as a major source of inspiration.
“It is an honor to compete alongside her, to cheer for her,” she gushed.
“It’s about doing my best.
This was especially true during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“She asked which routine I was going to do on the floor.
“I said, ‘I don’t know.
She plays her cards, and I play mine.”
Apparently, Biles took this response quite well.
“She laughed,” Andrade recalled, before adding, “We have fun together.”
In the same interview, Andrade went on to emphasize that she didnotask Biles about her own routine.
“I don’t want to know.
Why would I want to know?”
the Brazilian gymnast laughed.
“She’s huge!
I trust my own work.
The result, we never know …
There’s no point in asking, I would just get nervous, you know?”
Andrade pulled off a fantastic floor routine a fact that was not missed by Biles.
This is not the first time that Biles has shown Andrade a world of public support.
In 2023, Biles honored the Brazilian athlete after taking a defeat on the vault.
She then proceeded to place the invisible crown on Andrade’s head celebrating an impressive win.
These instances not only show Biles’ incredible sportsmanship but also her sweet dedication to a friend.
“Jordan was like, ‘Should we bow to her?’
“She’s so amazing.
She’s such an excitement to watch all the fans in the crowd always cheering for her.”
Andrade was both touched and humbled by this show of support.
“I feel very honored.
It is an honor to be at [Biles'] side.”
Speaking on this matter, Andrade told the press, “We can show the Black Power.
I love myself, my skin color.
But I’m also not focused on that.
‘Rebeca’ goes beyond her color And the same goes for ‘Jordan,’ for ‘Simone.’
The idea is it serves as an incentive” (viaPeople).
Biles echoed these sentiments in an interview of her own.
“It was an all-Black podium, so that was super exciting for us,” she said.
