Who is Simone Biles' biggest competition? What to know about Brazil's Rebeca Andrade

Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade is Biles' biggest competition in Thursday's all-around final at the 2024 Paris Olympics—and future event finals. And while besting Biles seems impossible, Andrade would like you to rethink that. In fact, in Simone Biles Rising, the eight-time Olympic medalist's Netflix documentary, Biles said that Andrade is the competitor who “scares” her the most.

The most decorated gymnast of all time, Biles is expected to win the the Olympic all-around gold again (her first time since 2016), but not before going head-to-head with Andrade, who qualified second behind her.

Who is Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade?

Currently, the 25-year-old gymnast is Biles' fiercest (friendly) competitor. In fact, you can hear Biles cheering Andrade on during certain routines.

At the 2020 Olympics, Andrade became the first South American woman to earn an all-around medal, finishing second behind Team USA's Suni Lee. She's also the reigning Olympic gold medalist on the vault. Since then, she's collected nine medals, including the 2022 world all-around title and the 2023 vault title.

Did we mention that's after a series of potentially career-ending injuries, including three ACL tears. It was actually Biles who encouraged her to continue. Not only will the two go head-to-head in the all-around final, they also both qualified to compete in the balance beam, vault and floor exercise finals.

How do the two stack up?

It's quite hard to best Biles, and that's simply thanks to her difficulty. She attempts the most difficult routines, and because the scores are made up of difficulty values—in addition to execution scores—it puts Biles at the top. Andrade, however, is inching toward her. She is supposed to be attempting a triple-twisting Yurchenko vault during the Olympics—potentially in the event final. Consider that an official bid to get a skill named after her.

So while standing atop the podium is the expectation for Biles, the room for error is slimmer than ever. Don't count her friend Andrade out.