Biles regains her throne; Rebeca takes the silver – 10/06/2023 – Sport

American gymnast Simone Biles, 26, won this Friday (6) the final of the all-around at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championship, which is being held this week in Antwerp, Belgium.

The Olympic gymnastics star made a triumphant return after being away for the last two years to deal with her mental health and took the gold after obtaining a total score of 58.399 points in the sum of the four devices – table vault, uneven bars, beam and ground. Biles was clearly moved by her achievement and couldn’t hold back her tears at the awards ceremony.

Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, 24, who was the world champion in the all-around at the 2022 World Cup, came in second place, with 56.766 points.

Third place was American Shilese Jones, with 56.332 points. It was the first time that a podium at an artistic gymnastics world championship was made up of three black women in the all-around.

“It’s wonderful, I loved it [o pódio só com mulheres negras]. ‘Wakanda forever'”, said the best Brazilian gymnast in activity, in reference to the film “Black Panther”.

“I thought it was amazing. I hope it teaches all young girls that they can do anything they put their mind to. Keep training hard,” Biles said of the all-black gymnasts podium.

The American also stated that she talks a lot with her therapist about her achievements in sport and their impact on gymnastics. “I think I’ll just realize [o seu impacto para o esporte] when I retire and look back and see everything I’ve done,” he said.

Also present in the competition this Friday, Brazilian Flavia Saraiva, 24, came in 15th place in the all-around final, with 52.699 points.

Rebeca had the highest score in the presentation in the table jump, with 14.700 points (compared to 15.100 for Simone Biles). On the uneven bars, the Brazilian achieved 14.500 points, above Biles, who scored 14.333 points. On beam, she scored 13.500 points, compared to 14.433 points for the American.

On the floor, Rebeca obtained 14.066 points (compared to 14.533 for the American, who suffered a stumble during the presentation), having suffered a discount of three tenths for having left the presentation area after losing her balance in the last movement.

She performed to the songs “End of Time”, by American singer Beyonce, and “Movimento da Sanfoninha”, by Anitta. “Baile de Favela”, a funk song by MC João that led the gymnast to her greatest achievements last year, closed the performance.

“It’s a very long competition, our body gets tired, our mind gets tired, but we work hard to do our best. I was very concentrated,” said Rebeca.

Biles and Rebeca will also compete in the vault final on Saturday (7). In the qualifiers, the American gymnast performed one of the most difficult jumps in gymnastics, the Yurchenko double pike, which will be called Biles 2 in honor of the athlete. She already has five movements named after her in gymnastics.

On Sunday (9), the last day of competition, Biles and Rebeca will compete again in the beam and floor finals. On solo, Flavia Saraiva also qualified for the final.

Biles is considered a phenomenon in the sport. She began her career in 2013, when she won two gold medals at the World Championships and had the first movement named in her honor.

Today there are no less than 26 world medals, 21 of which are gold, with six victories in the individual all-around after winning in Belgium.

The American also won seven Olympic medals, five of which were gold. The number could be even higher, but Biles stopped competing in some events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games to address issues related to mental health.

The gymnast explained that her withdrawal was due to a phenomenon known as “twisties”, a mental block in which the athlete loses the sense of space while performing acrobatics in the air.

In the absence of Biles in major international competitions, Brazilian Rebeca Andrade occupied the vacant space and stood out as one of the main active gymnasts in the world.

At the Olympics in Japan, the Brazilian from Guarulhos won silver in the all-around and gold in vault, becoming the first female Olympic medalist in Brazilian artistic gymnastics.

At the 2022 World Cup in Liverpool, England, Rebeca won gold in the individual all-around, the first in the country to achieve this achievement.

Brazilians had already triumphed in apparatus decisions on six occasions at the World Championships, one of them with Rebeca herself, on vault, in Kitakyushu, Japan, in 2021. But the best in the all-around was Jade Barbosa’s bronze in Stuttgart, Germany , in 2007.

The Brazilian also led the Brazilian team in winning the unprecedented silver medal obtained at the World Cup in Belgium.