"People need to believe them" - Rebeca Andrade spills hard reality about life of young girls who pursue their dreams away from home

Rebeca Andrade has suggested that professionals listen and comprehend the young girls who leave home and shift to a bigger state to follow their dreams. Andrade has been a beacon of inspiration in gymnastics, leaving home at 10 to pursue her sporting passion.

Rebeca Andrade has proved herself as the most decorated gymnast in Brazil. Her impressive skills on the mat even keep her rival, Simone Biles, on her toes. At the Paris Olympics, she won the all-around and vault silver, bronze in the team competition, and gold in the floor exercise.

Having left home at a very young age, Andrade always received support from her family, especially her mother. But moving to a bigger state for her dreams came with its fair share of difficulties. Shedding light on how professionals should treat young dreamers like her, she told BBC World Service (18.10 onwards):

"I think the professionals should believe in what these young people and children are saying. Because sometime it's already really hard to talk. And then when they are able to speak, they are discredited because the person who's doing it says,"No. I would never do that." And there are a lot of people who don't believe the child's word, they don't believe what a teenager is saying. There has to be trained professionals to spot that. It's not just anyone. People need to believe them, that's a large part of it."

"Also in the US, there are a lot of good athletes. So the girls are always competing with each other to be part of the team. And sometimes they are coerced that way. They are told, 'You can't tell anyone, if you tell, I'm going to kick you out of the team.' It's sad, it's very sad, it's horrible," Andrade added.

Rebeca Andrade recently talked about the importance of prioritizing her body over competing

Rebeca Andrade performing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 6 - (Source: Getty)

Rebeca Andrade has amassed six Olympic and nine World medals in her impressive career. After her Paris Olympics success, she shared how taking care of her body would be her top priority before she gets back to the competitive stage.

"I sat down with [coach] Chico [Porath], we talked, and we understood that this first phase will be about taking care of my body, my muscle pains, the aches I was complaining about last year," she told Olympics.com

"I don’t know what will happen with Worlds; we need to train. Right now, my focus is on recovering my body, getting rid of all the pain I have, and then we’ll see," Andrade added.

Rebeca Andrade has been busy with brand campaigns and appearances on talk shows and events. She even modeled for Vogue, basking in the glory of her successes.