a video of her performing
an Amanar hit the Internet in 2013.
Andrade was born on May 8, 1999, Guarulhose,
the second most populous city in the Brazilian state
of São Paulo. She made her international debut at
Youth South American championships where she
dominated the competition. She won medals in
every single final, including winning the all
around, vault and uneven bars gold medals.
Two years later, she repeated this feat at Junior Pan
American championships, as she won gold medals on vault,
bars and beam, and silver medals on floor exercise, and in
team and all around finals.
She was set to represent her country at 2014 Youth Olympic
games but had to withdraw due to a minor injury, a broken
toe. She was replaced by Salvia Saraiva who impressed at the
games.
Andrade is one of the most promising gymnasts who are
turning senior this year.
According to gymfanconfessions;
Her mother had to borrow money to buy food and there was
no money left for anything else, the clothes she had were
donated by people who knew her. The gym she went was a
public one and the breakfast that was left was donated to her
family.
Her coach, Keli Kitaura, knew that Rebecca had talent so
she asked her mother if she (Rebecca) could live with her, so
she wouldn’t miss practices anymore. They lived together for
some time, but Keli had to move to Curitiba, a city far away
from where they were living.
When she was settled in, Rebecca moved there and after
some time Keli was hired by Flamengo (where Jade, the
Hypolitos and a huge part of brazilian team go) and they
both moved again. Now she and other 9 girls live with Keli
and her husband.
She also has a contract with a telecommunications company
and a salary of Flamengo, the brazilian team and bolsa
atleta, a government assistance to athletes. With that money
she helps her mother that doesn’t have any more depts and
her 3 siblings are also doing gymnastics.
She is excellent on vault and I am not even exaggerating. Her
Amanar is very high and well executed that she can be
mistaken as an elite American gymnast.
Her bars is very decent, she has nice swings and execution.
She doesn't have a difficult routine, but I believe, she has a
potential to upgrade. She does a Tkatchev (D) and piked
Jaeger (D) as releases, a Maloney (D) as a bar transition and a
full twisting back handspring dismount (D).
And she is training a G rated bars release, the Nabieva.
On beam, she is fluid but not completely solid but has the
potential to.
She also does a layout to two feet (E).
The music is catchy and she dances well to it. Like beam, she
is fluid and moves with ease. Her first tumbling pass is an F
rated double layout while the rest are of mediocre and low
difficulty.
Bottom of line: Rebecca is very impressive,extremely talented
and has huge potential. She is what we call a non balletic
artistic gymnast.
In addition, she needs to upgrade her routines which she has
shown her ability to.
However, I won't be setting my expectation high, although she
deserves it. Unfortunately in gymnastics, it doesn't only come
down to the gymnast's talent but also to the country they come
from and the situation around them.
Talented gymnasts who are not from the big four often fall
victims to the lack of funding, lack of having experienced
coaches and judges' bias.
But I will keep my fingers crossed and highly recommend to
keep an eye on her.
On a bright side, Alexander Alexadrov who coached Aliya
Mustafina to a World AA title and an Olympic gold on
uneven bars, had been appointed to contribute to the building
of the Brazilian National gymnastics team since 2013. And
not to mention, the upcoming Olympic games will be in Rio
Di Janeiro, Brasil.
Hopefully that will help Rebecca live up to her potential.
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