Rebeca says that gold with ‘Baile de Favela’ is ‘to show what black people are capable of’

It was Rebeca Andrade’s solo performance that ended the women’s all-around final of the Gymnastics World Cup, in Liverpool, England. When the melody of “Baile de Favela” was interrupted, the Brazilian raised her arm, the last moment of her choreography, and just waited for the gold medal.

Leader since the first rotation, with exceptional execution in the jump, she needed a 12.901 to stay ahead of North American Shilese Jones. The 14,400 gave her the achievement with ease, and she was finally able to celebrate a great title with the music that rocked her in recent years.

“It’s to show what black people are capable of”, he said, in an interview with SporTV. “I feel really proud to take this song around the world, glad that it went for gold. I think it’s really, really cool that people really liked the song, the choreography. You see how the audience stands up.”

“In Brazil, there are many difficulties that a black person has to reach high performance. To get there, I had a lot of help, from all over the world, from neighbors, from those who lent money, I stayed at other people’s houses to train. So, it represents all my history, all my struggle. I hope to continue making history”, he added.

Now, the São Paulo native from Guarulhos will adopt a new choreography, with another track. “It’s even sad to say goodbye,” she said. But MC João’s funk –which was composed in 2015 and exploded on New Year’s Eve 2016, exalting street dances in São Paulo and portraying its reality– is already in the history of Brazilian artistic gymnastics.

Also in history is the name of Rebeca, the first person in the country to win the all-around title at the Worlds. She had already won gold for apparatus in the vault – at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and at the World Cup in Japan, both in 2021 – but it was only now that she assumed the post of the most complete gymnast on the planet.

“It means all my work, the work of the disciplinary team, the work of the girls who train with me. We work very hard. And I’m very proud of the girls who performed too. I know how hard I work and I’m sure they work hard too. that, they rocked it,” said the 23-year-old athlete.

A psychology university student, she also praised the performance of her psychologist. Always showing a lot of calm, the Brazilian didn’t have celebrations in effusive lamentations like many of her opponents. She said she didn’t pay attention to the performance of competitors to focus on hers.

“I don’t like to think about what people are doing, but what I really have to do,” he declared. “I don’t notice anything, I don’t see anything. I see the girls taking the tests, but at the same time I’m very much in my thoughts. You know when you’re watching TV, but you start using your cell phone and you just notice the movement?”

The tactic worked.