One of Brazil’s leading athletes today, Rebecca Andrade, only 22 years old, shows the maturity of a true champion. Brazilian gymnast, Joe . have returned from Tokyo Olympic Games Talked about this monday with one gold and one silver in the luggage Simone Biles and defended the American, who chose not to compete in some tests because of his psychological weakness.
“The psychological part has always been as important as the physical part”, Rebecca emphasized. “I have had psychological counseling since I was 13 and I know it has made a total difference to my results and my development during all these years. There are some places where only the physical part, only the body, will do it. And bring results. But what I’ve lived, from my own story, I know it’s not.”
In Tokyo, Simone Biles was one of the highlights of the Olympics. Until then the main name of gymnastics. But the American shocked the world by not appearing in five of his six planned finals. The decision stunned the sports world and shed light on a problem that had not been given much importance until then: the importance of the psychological factor.
“It was very difficult when the news of Simone came out, because it happened at a very crucial moment. We were at an Olympics. It is very difficult for a high-performing athlete to leave a competition because they don’t feel well. “Imagine an Olympics then, which happens every 4 years. And also coming from such a complex moment, which was a pandemic,” Rebecca analyzed.
“I admit that I was glad that she put herself in the first place, because if she had taken the risk, she could have been injured or something very bad could have happened. USA Gymnastics is a reference to her. He had to live with the pressure, the pressure of the team, the pressure of the country. It is very difficult, even more so when we know it is one of the best.”
Rebecca Andrade shone in Tokyo, placing first in the vault and second in the normal person. Expectations about the Brazilian woman were high, but she knew how to respect her space. In October, at the World Gymnastics Championships, she decided not to perform on the field with her ‘ballet de favela’, leaving her out of competition on all sides.
“So proud to know that I could look at her, a black woman, and say: ‘I can put myself first. I can think about myself, I can think about my body. ‘ I didn’t perform on the ground. That decision was very difficult because I really wanted to perform. But I knew my body couldn’t withstand all that effort. I used it a lot as a reference for my decisions, “He concluded.
to inspire
Rebecca Andrade is alongside Etienne Medeiros, Raisa Rocha, Ana Marcella Cunha and Fernanda Keller, officially announced this Monday as ambassador athletes joining the Inspire Project. He participated in an online event to launch the platform. Everyone had a place to speak where they reported on the importance of being involved in the project, which tells the stories of not only the winning athletes, but of the women who have met their challenges.
The Inspire Project is a partnership between Riachuelo, the Rio de Janeiro Department of Sports, Leisure and Youth, and the company Golden Goal. It is an initiative that aims to reinforce the importance of real and positive influences to encourage female heroism through stories of athletes overcoming prejudices that break prejudice and show that a woman’s place is where she wants to be. Is.
Project creator Paula Paso explained how the idea came about. “We started to understand the landscape of women in sport and we saw that there are specific challenges for women,” she said. “Women face specific challenges, such as the difficulty of obtaining sponsorships, aesthetic pressures, and even mandatory uniforms that often unnecessarily expose women’s bodies, making some uncomfortable.”
After this the organizer came up with some figures. “The number of women who do physical activity in Brazil is much lower than men. This is because there are dual work shifts. Women have less leisure time than men. Mainly, women get to the real Gaining access requires inspiration”. It is not focusing on the ‘super-athletes’ but bringing their true stories.
