Rebeca Andrade’s story is one of perseverance. Coming back from a third ACL injury to win not one but two medals at the Tokyo Olympics might make you presume that gymnastics is an individual sport. In fact, that’s the general perception of the sport. But Andrade begs to differ, and if history has anything to go by, Andrade’s claims are no less than authentic.

The modern era of the Olympics (1896 onwards) marked the entry point for men’s gymnastics for the first time wherein 75 athletes from five countries competed with Germany sweeping away the medal parade. Only five individual events were held — parallel bars, pommel horse, horizontal bar, vault, still rings. We are talking of a time when barring the Olympics, there existed no international gymnastics competition. Not until 1903. This was when Antwerp, Belgium held its first-ever, what is now famously known as, the World Championship. In fact, the men’s team combined competition wasn’t a part of the Olympic program until 1904! But what happened in the women’s gymnastics category?

While it took precisely 28 years (1924 Games) for men’s gymnastics to take proper form on both team and individual fronts, women’s gymnastics as a discipline was just catching up to enter the Olympic scene which only started in 1928. And guess what? It began with just the team program, which the Netherlands won. What began as a women’s program with seven events in 1952 was then later stabilized at six events, as has been the case since the 1960 Games in Rome. History has its bearings, and Rebeca’s stance on gymnastics being a team sport isn’t a far-fetched opinion.

Andrade walked the interviewer through her own story to back this. June 2021: Almost two years after Brazil failed to qualify for the team event at the Tokyo Games, the Pan American Championships were Rebeca Andrade’s last chance to secure a 2020 Olympic berth. And less than a couple of months later, Andrade made history, becoming the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic gold in gymnastics!

Part of the reason Brazil failed to qualify a full team for the Tokyo Olympics was the 25-year-old’s ACL injury. Because of this, she couldn’t compete in the 2019 Worlds, and Brazil finished a lowly 14th. “Not being able to help my team, to be watching and not being able to compete, not doing what I was born to do, is really hard,” she’d said at the time. That’s how much competing with her team means to Rebeca Andrade. And this feeling is precisely what she elaborated on in an interview with Fátima Bernardes.

This is when the Brazilian star made her stance clear: gymnastics is more than just a solo endeavor—it’s a collective journey. She said, “I think gymnastics is a team sport. We go up one at a time on the apparatus and stuff, but it’s a lot of team because you feel the difference when you’re alone. You feel how much you miss them when they’re not there with you.” After her gold win (floor) at the Paris Olympics, guess who the first person Rebeca connected with on a call? Well, it wasn’t her family or friends back home in Sao Paulo.

Naturally, a lot was going through the 25-year-old’s mind, and it was evident when she said, “I have worked this in my head, and I wanted tonight to be a very special competition.” The thing is, she wouldn’t have been able to make it without Aline Wolff, her psychologist. “When I won, the first thing I did was call up my psychologist. She played a huge role in my win.”

“After my [ACL] injury, I was in one of the darkest phases of my career, and she helped me get out of the slump,” Rebeca added. “So when I picked up the win, I felt I owed her for helping me get through the tough times.” Wolff helped the Brazilian find herself before Tokyo, and she helped Andrade keep going throughout Paris. The difference between 2021 and 2024 was the fact that, in Tokyo, Rebeca didn’t have her teammates alongside her. But after they qualified for the team event in Paris, Andrade got to experience the glory of standing on the podium with her team – her support system. 

Emphasizing the importance of teamwork in the sport that is often seen as a solitary pursuit, Andrade said, “It was something I wanted, of course, to be an Olympic medalist, to be a World medalist, but I didn’t imagine it would be so big.” In the second rotation on the balance beam inside Bercy Arena, Brazil absorbed a fall. But Flavia Saraiva – with a bandage on her eyebrow – delivered a spectacular uneven bars performance, and Rebeca Andrade followed that up with a massive 15.100 score on the vault. That was it – Brazil had finally won its first-ever Olympic team medal in gymnastics.

Revealing her emotions in the final few minutes of the team all-around final, Andrade told Fátima Bernardes, “I felt really happy to be sharing that moment with them. It was incredible. I didn’t cry [before the results were announced].” Following her final vault performance, the Brazilians had to wait for Great Britain’s final beam performance. When it was official that Brazil had, in fact, beaten the Brits to the bronze medal by 0.234 points, Andrade couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“I cried with our podium, and I cried with my podium.” The team embraced as tears filled their eyes, and when they stepped onto the podium, their joy was visible. Brazilian gymnastics veteran Jade Barbosa said, “Twenty years ago in Athens, Brazil made it to the Olympic team final for the first time in history. Twenty years later, we’re here with our first-ever Olympic team medal.” Their statements show the deep sense of connection prevalent in every gymnastics team.

In the subsequent days of competition, Andrade added three more medals to her Paris Olympics tally, courtesy of two silver medals in the all-around and vault final and a gold in the floor exercise, defeating Simone Biles. The floor exercise final was last on the gymnastics schedule, and as she waited for the official results, there came a moment of doubt. “For a moment, I thought that I couldn’t make the Brazilian anthem play at the Olympics, and I really wanted it to happen,” she revealed in the interview.

She made it happen. Seeing her teammates cheering across the gym, she realized how much sweeter a win feels with team support. According to Andrade, gymnasts rely a lot on their teammates to help motivate each other. Whether it be words of comfort before a rotation or the joyous singsong after an outstanding performance, these team experiences shape the sport. So, even though many believe it’s an individual sport, the unseen dynamic of teamwork proves that no gymnast truly competes alone.

The Paris Olympics was a redemption tour for Rebeca Andrade and Brazil, too

Coming into the Summer Games, all eyes were on Team USA. Following Simone Biles’ withdrawal due to the twisties in Tokyo, the Americans could only manage a silver medal in the team final. This time around, with Biles back in top form and Suni Lee, Jade Carey, and Jordan Chiles looking to better their 2021 outings, they aimed for the gold, calling it their “redemption tour.” But they weren’t the only ones.

As mentioned earlier, Brazil’s team failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics due to their performance at the 2019 World Championships. With Andrade out with an ACL injury, things only got worse for the South American nation when veteran Jade Barbosa suffered an injury during the competition, quashing almost all hopes of Brazil making it to Japan. Even Flavia Saraiva’s spectacular performance couldn’t help the team, but it helped her qualify for the individual events at the Games based on her scores.

So, after missing out in 2021 following their 2016 Rio Olympics outing, the Brazilian team came back with a vengeance. And with a point to prove. They proved it, winning their first-ever team medal. Back in 2019, when Andrade was out with her ACL injury, she told Olympic Channel, “I’ve overcome a lot of things and each time I overcame something tough, I was more determined to come back. I wanted to win even more.” While she proved that in the 2021 Pan American Championships and in Tokyo, the entire Brazilian team achieved this in Paris. Together.