What a farewell for a final dance! In the most popular apparatus of artistic gymnastics, Rebeca Andrade thrilled the Arena Bercy and left Simone Biles behind to conclude her campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a spectacular gold on the floor, scoring 14.166. This marks the sixth Olympic medal for the Paulista gymnast, establishing her as Brazil’s greatest Olympic medalist, surpassing Robert Scheidt and Torben Grael, each with five medals.
This was the first time a Brazilian woman stood on the Olympic podium for this apparatus. Previously, the best result was a fifth place, achieved by Rebeca herself in Tokyo 2020 and by Daiane dos Santos in 2004. In the men’s category, Diego Hypolito and Arthur Nory won silver and bronze, respectively, at Rio 2016.
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In the French capital, this was Rebeca’s fourth medal. She also won silver in the all-around and vault, as well as bronze in the team event. In the beam final, which also took place on Monday, she finished in fourth place. In Tokyo 2020, she had already won two medals: gold in vault and silver in all-around.
Rebeca shines in execution to achieve historic gold
Rebeca slightly simplified her routine compared to the qualifiers, omitting the Hands-Free Tsukahara in the first pass. The other elements were maintained, and her execution lifted the Arena Bercy with precision and grace to the sounds of Beyoncé and Anitta.
She received a score of 14.166, above the 13.900 from the qualifiers, a score that would temporarily place her in the lead, with seven athletes still to perform. The Brazilian coaching staff requested a review of the difficulty score, but the request was denied.
All that was left for the Brazilian was to wait. One by one, her competitors took the stage and raised the bar. During Simone Biles’ performance, which featured a very high degree of difficulty, two significant errors occurred: the American stepped off the mat with both feet twice. These mistakes resulted in a 0.6 deduction and were decisive. With a score of 14.133, Biles fell behind Rebeca, ensuring the Brazilian at least a bronze medal.
Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea and American Jordan Chiles were the last two to perform. They did not surpass the Brazilian. In the apparatus that crowned Daiane dos Santos at the World Championships and marked Diego Hypolito’s Olympic redemption, Brazil finally reigned on the Olympic stage. It is only fitting that Rebeca Andrade crowned this historic moment at the top of the podium.
