The Paris Olympics is expected to belong to Simone Biles. However, if there’s one person who could spoil the party for the American gymnast, it’s Brazilian phenom Rebeca Andrade.
Andrade, 25, became a household name in Brazil after she won two medals at the Tokyo Olympic Games. At the upcoming Paris Olympics, Andrade and Biles are expected to face off for gold in the all-around, vault, and floor finals. While they have competed against each other before, Paris is set to be the first Olympic showdown with both of them at peak form.
Andrade has been teasing a new vault that has never been performed by a female gymnast, a triple-twisting Yurchenko. If she completes it in Paris, it will bear her name in the Code of Points and help close her difficulty gap with Biles.
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Andrade and Biles came of age on the sport’s biggest stage concurrently, both making their Olympic debuts in 2016 at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. They achieved different results there, with Andrade failing to medal and Biles winning four golds and a bronze, but they have grown increasingly well-matched in the past eight years.
Andrade was launched onto the international scene in front of a home crowd in Rio when she finished third place for the 2016 Olympic all-around final, ahead of Russian gymnastics icon Aliya Mustafina.
