'Seeing is believing': Simone Biles inspires a generation of diverse American gymnasts

(CNN) — Eleven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles is unquestionably hard to beat, but doing so is not impossible.

Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade proved just that as she pipped her American rival to the floor exercise gold at the Paris Games on Monday. Biles claimed the silver medal.

It was a moment of catharsis for the 25-year-old who has had to play second-fiddle to Biles for much of her career.

“I am very happy and proud about what I did. We came here every day to compete and perform,” Andrade told reporters after winning gold.

“Gymnastics is not an easy sport, it requires a lot from our body and mind. I was confident I was able to manage all of the pressure and I worked with my coach in order to achieve what we’ve done.”

Before action got underway in Paris, Biles said Andrade was her biggest competition, with the pair well used to competing against each other. In Biles’ Netflix documentary, which premiered last month, the US star said that Andrade “scares” her the most out of all her competitors.

At the World Championships last year, Andrade took gold in the vault, while Biles took silver. This victory made Andrade the first athlete to surpass Biles on the vault in that competition since 2015. Andrade also won the world all-around gold medal in 2022.

Prior to Monday’s performance on the floor, after Thursday night’s individual all-around final, Biles said she loved competing against the Brazilian, but that Andrade was getting “too close.”

“I don’t want to compete with Rebeca no more. I’m tired,” Biles said at the time. “She’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes, and it brought up the best athlete in myself, so I’m excited and proud to compete with her but … it was uncomfortable, guys. I was stressing.”

A injury-wrought journey to glory

But the Brazilian gymnast’s trajectory to success hasn’t been smooth sailing. After dealing with what can be career-ending injuries to gymnasts (ACL tears in 2015, 2017 and 2019) and going through three knee surgeries, she has shown grit in the face of adversity.

She became the first South American to step onto the all-around podium, earning a silver medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. She finished second to Team USA’s Sunisa Lee, but four days later, she won gold on vault over American MyKayla Skinner.

Andrade, a São Paulo native, grew up with seven siblings and started gymnastics training at age five after her aunt took her to training sessions at the gymnasium where she worked.

She comes from humble beginnings – her mother, Rosa, cleaned houses to support her family and to pay for Andrade’s training. In 2009, Andrade moved to Curitiba before taking her talents to Flamengo’s club in Rio just a year later.

Now, she’s an Olympic and world champion, who knows she is more than capable of beating arguably the greatest gymnast in history.

A defining Olympic image

After both Biles and Andrade suffered disappointment in the balance beam event earlier on Monday, the pair came out for their floor routines on a mission – aiming to dazzle the judges with their final performance in Paris.

Biles’ difficulty gave her a significant advantage, but she was handed penalties for twice stepping out of bounds.

Meanwhile, Andrade crushed her floor routine and set the score for the rest of her rivals to try match. In the end, not even Biles could beat her.

“She’s so amazing. She’s queen,” Biles said of Andrade on Monday.

Andrade’s gold medal on Monday follows a silver medal in both the vault and all-around events, as well a bronze in the team event – completing a successful Games for the Brazilian.

“I can’t really choose because they’re all special to me,” she said when asked which medal was her favorite.

“Our bronze in the team competition was very important to me, it was something we’ve dreamed about as a team and something I really wanted myself, too.

“For my individual medals, it’s the same. I knew about my capabilities and I gave it my all. I was fighting to finally have a gold because I wanted that one so badly.”

Andrade couldn’t hide her excitement when she was presented the gold medal, cheered on by her fans inside the arena.

Then, as she stood atop the podium, Biles and bronze medalist Jordan Chiles bowed to her out of respect. The moment created one of the defining images of this – or any – Olympic Games.

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