Rebeca Andrade

Rebeca Andrade

Rebeca Rodrigues de Andrade (born 8 May 1999) is a Brazilian artistic gymnast. Having won a total of six Olympic medals and nine World medals. She is the most decorated Brazilian and Latin American gymnast of all time, as well as the most decorated Brazilian Olympian in any discipline. In the all-around, she is the 2022 World champion, a two-time Olympic silver medalist (2020 & 2024), the 2023 World silver medalist, and the 2021 Pan American champion. On vault, she is the 2020 Olympic gold medalist, the 2024 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World Champion (2021 & 2023), and the 2023 Pan American Games champion. In the floor exercise, she is the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, 2023 World silver medallist, and 2022 World bronze medallist. She led the Brazilian team to its first ever team medals at the 2023 World Championships (silver) and the 2024 Olympics (bronze), as well as the gold medal at the 2021 Pan American Championships.

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

At the junior level, she is the 2012 Junior Pan American champion in the all-around and on vault and floor exercise, and the 2014 Junior Pan American champion on the vault, uneven bars, and balance beam.

(source: Wikipedia)

Top-ranked gymnast

Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade suffered three ACL tears in her right knee between 2015 and 2019, leading to multiple surgeries and long recovery periods.

She underwent eight surgeries in total, with three being reconstructive surgeries for her ACL tears. Andrade stated that each recovery made her more determined to win. The recovery process was challenging, but she gained more awareness of her body and the rehabilitation process after her third injury.
She has since become a top-ranked gymnast, winning multiple medals.

3 ACL Injuries

It all started in 2015
After a successful junior career, Andrade’s senior debut in 2015 was cut short by the first of three ACL tears. In June, Andrade tore her ACL for the first time which caused her to miss her most important competitions of the season – the Pan American Games and the World Championships. She returned to competition and represented Brazil at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she placed eleventh in the all-around final.

2017
She tore her ACL for the second time in 2017, but made her World Championships debut in 2018. Andrade was initially named to the World Championships team along with first-year senior Thais Fidelis; however, she tore her ACL for a second time during the warmups for podium training and withdrew.

2019
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.

Highlights & Awards