BBrazilian gymnast Flávia Saraiva helped the country achieve its first Olympic team medal in women’s gymnastics on Tuesday — while sporting a black eye.
Shortly before the start of the women’s team competition at the Paris Olympic Games, Saraiva fell during heating on uneven bars. Photos showed the 24-year-old gymnast bleeding from a cut above her right eye and sporting what appeared to be a black eye. But after receiving medical attention, she returned to the competition with a bandage.
“I couldn’t see it, it was bleeding, but the team doctor told me everything was fine,” said Saraiva, as reported by The Associated Press. “I believe my knee hit my eye when I tripped. It’s not the first time this has happened to me.”
“We are warriors,” she continued.
Saraiva went on to compete in all four events – uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise and vault – in the team final.
“She’s tough,” NBC announcer Rich Lerner he said during transmission.
Fans agreed, with many taking to social media to applaud the gymnast for her determination.
Flavia Saraiva, one of the veterans of the Brazilian team, suffered a bad fall in the warm-up after falling on her face. A few minutes later, Flávia performed a crucial bar routine for Brazil to keep them in the medal race Simply WOW pic.twitter.com/YdRQI8MzYs
– Blind Landing Podcast (@BlindLandingPod) July 30, 2024
Flávia Saraiva is tough as nails, man. The Brazilian gymnast fell two and a half meters from the bar and took a knee, got a black eye, shook off the dust… and secured her country’s first medal in the event. #ParisOlympics2024 pic.twitter.com/5teo8ld3PM
-Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith) July 30, 2024
Hail previously competed at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, held in 2021, and at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, in 2016.
Brazil won the bronze medal in the women’s team final on Tuesday, while Italy won silver and the USA regained gold.
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