Paris 2024 comes into focus for Rebeca Andrade and Team Brazil
Third after six of 10 subdivisions, the squad is all but assured to obtain a five-woman team quota for next summer's Olympic Games.
Artistic Gymnastics
World and Olympic gymnastics champion Rebeca Andrade knew her team had done all it could on Monday (2 October) during their qualifying session at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
The event is the sport's largest qualifier to next summer's Paris 2024 Olympic Games with nine teams set to join the United States, Great Britain and Canada that obtained their quota spots by taking team medals at last year's global event in Liverpool.
What Andrade didn't know is where they had placed. The 24-year-old couldn't see the Sportpaleis Antwerpen's massive screens that showed the Brazil squad ranked third, behind only the U.S. and GB. Ten teams remain in Monday's final four subdivisions but their Paris quota is all but assured.
"I didn't know until now because I use glasses, I can not see what was on the screen. I know now because you said it to me," Andrade told Olympics.com. "We are really emotional because we did our best, we worked really hard this year to be here with this team so that's why we are emotional. It's always good when you see emotion like this."
The reigning World champion went on to joke about her vision, admitting she can't even see the vault - where she is the Olympic gold medallist - as she sprints toward it.
"I don't see it," Andrade said of the apparatus with a laugh. "When I get in on the springboard, I see it."
Adding later, "I tried to use contact lenses but I didn't like it because I started to see [the beam] really well, and I don't want to see it so well."
The long road back
Brazil sent full women's gymnastics teams to the Games at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
But four years ago, Andrade watched from the stands of the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Hall in Stuttgart, Germany, recovering from a third ACL tear in four years as her team missed out on Tokyo 2020.
"I was a lot calmer when I was in the seats," she recalled.
It didn't show.
Andrade posted a 56.599 in the all-around, the fourth best score behind Simone Biles, Shilese Jones and Jessica Gadirova, all former World all-around medallists.
She earned scores of 14.900, vault; 13.866, uneven bars; 13.800, balance beam; 14.033, floor exercise.
Brazil will go for a first-ever World team medal on Wednesday (4 October) when the top eight finishers from qualifying face off in the women's team final.