For this first time in Simone Biles' unparalleled gymnastics career, she faced a competitor who truly gave her a run for the gold medal, Brazil's Rebeca Andrade.
While Biles is undoubtedly the greatest gymnast of all time, who earned a U.S. record-breaking sixth gold medal during the Women's Individual All-Around Finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Andrade was right on her heels.
Biles, who hasn't lost an all-around competition since 2013, typically wins by a wide margin of points. However, following the second rotation in Paris, Andrade usurped Biles in first place.
Biles ultimately finished with an overall 59.131 score, while Andrade earned silver with 57.932. The level of difficulty required to reach such high scores is unprecedented. Viewers watching the all-around final were treated to a spectacle of excellence, which is why Andrade's huge announcement after the competition left fans devastated.
When asked if that was her last all-around final, "I believe so," she told Olympics.com . The 25-year-old previously won silver during the all-around competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics behind Team USA's Suni Lee, the latter of whom won bronze in Paris.
Andrade, who's recovered from three ACL tears over the past four years noted, "Doing the all-around, to me, it demands a lot from my body, my lower limbs, legs, knees. But I said that the future belongs to God: What if I something comes up in my head [or] my body gets better? I don’t know.
"But I have worked this in my head and I wanted tonight to be a very special competition because, to me, that was my last all-around."
For Andrade, who grew up in São Paulo with seven siblings, and a mother who cleaned houses to pay for her training, she took pride in making the G.O.A.T. nervous in competition. "Knowing that I gave Simone a bit of work is cool, right?" she said with a laugh.
"She’s the best in the world, Simone is a phenomenon. We didn’t see it just here, but also in many competitions that she has done. I’m so proud of being able to compete by her side."
Biles joked with reporters that Andrade's performances were "stressing" her out. "I've never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes and it brought out the best athlete in myself," she said.
Fans were heartbroken to learn Andrade was retiring from the all-around competition. One person posted , "Selfishly I want to see more of Rebe, even if 'just' as an apparatus specialist.. but what she has given us is a true gift. To achieve everything that she has after 3 ACL tears is nothing short of astonishing. We are so blessed to have witnessed her gymnastics."
Another fan wrote , "Nooooooooo. I mean, I’ve loved her since Rio, so fair play to her, but I would find that a massive loss to the sport."
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