2024 Olympics: Simone Biles Leads Team USA to Gold in Paris Gymnastics Final

When Simone Biles competes for gold, she’ll have some fierce competition in Rebeca Andrade.

Though the American GOAT recently earned yet another gold medal alongside her teammates at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she still has the women’s gymnastics all-around finals ahead of her.

And with them, she’ll be facing Brazil’s top gymnast—a worthy competitor who already made history at the Tokyo Games when Andrade won silver, making her the first South American woman to make it to the all-around podium, and who helped lead her team to a bronze medal at this year's team finals.

Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, alongside her seven siblings by her mother, Rebeca showed an aptitude for the sport from an early age.

“I was always active when I was a small child,” the 25-year-old told the International Federation of Gymnastics. “So, my aunt took me to the gym where she worked and I began doing gymnastics. It was amazing. The gym looked like an amusement park.”

And she credits the program with a lot, adding, “I think that if it weren't for that program, they wouldn't have spotted my talent and I would have just been a girl playing on the street."

readHow Olympians Suni Lee and Simone Biles Support Each Other

She went on to make her Olympics debut in 2016 in Rio followed by Tokyo and now this year’s Paris Games. It was at her second Games that she won silver in the all-around, placing behind Team USA's Suni Lee. However, Andrade did take home gold in the vault final. (Plus, Andrade beat out Biles on the vault at the 2023 World Championship.)

LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images & Markus Gilliar – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images

“I am much more mature both as a person and as an athlete,” Andrade told the Associated Press. “I was just a girl who had some experience, but after Japan I continued to evolve. And that made me better in the gym, I can feel every event and I want to be in every event.”

But while Biles and Andrade will be locked in a grueling competition for gold, they have nothing but respect for one another on and off the mat.

“I’ve grown such affection for her,” Andrade told The Washington Post of Biles, while Biles added of the Brazilian athlete, “I actually love competing with Rebeca. She does push me.”

In fact, Andrade credits the American with helping keep her in the sport. After a knee injury led to a disappointing performance at the world championships in 2018, Andrade began to doubt her future—that is until Biles came in with some encouraging words.

“She told me, ‘Don’t give up. You’re talented. And you’re going to get past this,’” Andrade recalled. “It was such a kind moment, so affectionate, because there was no one else around.”

But heading into the biggest match-up of her career, Andrade isn’t letting her mind flip to her competition.

Naomi Baker/Getty Images

“I don’t think at all about the others,” she shared with the AP. “If I am focused on what they are doing, I am not focused on me. I had so many surgeries. I cannot afford to not be focused. Even if it is me listening to music, walking on the street, I am focused on that when I am doing it.”

And she poses some of the stiffest competition Biles has had to face in a long time.

As Daiane dos Santos, the first Brazilian gymnast to win gold at the world championships, told Washington Post, “We’re going to see a grand duel happen in Paris. They’re going to come in full force, with the same objective, to show who in fact is the best: Who will win?”

While we wait and see, get to know more of the international athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Games…