According to ESPN, a Black gymnast from Brazil became the first Brazilian woman to ever win a medal in gymnastics at the Olympics. Rebeca Andrade won a silver medal during the all-around competition on July 29.
“I am super happy,” said Andrade. “I hoped for this moment, and I have trained and worked super hard for this moment. I don’t have any words to describe how I am feeling, nor the feeling of having the Olympic silver medal around my neck.”
The Brazilian team failed to qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo, so Andrade didn’t have her teammates nearby for support. Andrade, 22, competed in the 2016 Olympics but only made it to 11th place. Sunisa Lee from the United States won the gold medal, and Russian Angelina Melnikovat won the bronze medal.
Andrade had missed three world championships due to a torn ACL, but the Olympics being delayed because of COVID-19 gave athletes extra time to prepare for The Games.
The victory is not only a win for Brazill but also the country’s often-ignored Black population.
Brazil has one of the largest populations of Black people outside of Africa. Despite the country having more than 106 million Black people and 56 percent of the population identifying as Black or mixed, Brazil has a big problem with racism.
Protests erupted after a Black man named Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas was beaten to death by white guards in Porto Alegre last November, per The Guardian.
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Ravina Shamdasani from the United Nations said that what happened to Freitas often happens in Brazil due to racism.
Shamdasani said that Freitas’ death was “an extreme but sadly all too common example of the violence suffered by Black people in Brazil…It offers a stark illustration of the persistent structural discrimination and racism people of African descent face.
Andrade winning the country’s first Olympic medal for women’s gymnastics would be a big accomplishment if she was not an Afro-Latina, so the fact that she’s Black is sure to cause some buzz in Brazil. Hopefully, her win will help the country feel pride toward its Afro-Brazilians and open up discussions on racism and representation.
Congratulations, Rebeca!
