Brazilian Olympic Gymnast Flavia Saraiva Competes With Black Eye After Warmup Fall

She suffered a fall when she slipped off the uneven bars just minutes before the competition began. While her scores weren’t impacted by the fall, her face certainly was — as the 24-year-old athlete kneed herself in the face during in the incident.

Rocking a black eye and bandage, Saraiva later proved she could pick herself up from the mat and continue with full force — achieving a solid score of 13.666 on the uneven bars, the second highest score for Brazil on the rotation.

Shortly after, Brazil went on to win its first ever Olympic team medal in women’s gymnastics.

With 171.296 points, the United States won gold as Simone Biles became the most decorated American gymnast of all time. That score put the US 5.802 points ahead of second-place Italy and 6.799 points ahead of third-place Brazil.

Fans took to social media to share the support for the athlete’s tenacity and focus.

“HUGE shout-out to Flavia Saraiva of Brazilian Women’s Gymnastics team,” one fan wrote on X, “She took a NASTY spill during warmups on the uneven bars and is still out here putting up an amazing routine in competition. She’s a different kinda star.”

Another added, “That’s my f–king hero” … while yet a third wrote, “Hard as f–k … and now she has an eye bandage and brazil’s first-ever medal in women’s team gymnastics.”

“She mothered so hard,” read another comment.

Also representing Brazil were Rebeca Andrade, Jade Barbosa, Lorrane Oliveira and Julia Soares.

Flavia also competed in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic games and isn’t a stranger to overcoming injuries. She opened up about pushing herself after several ankle surgeries made her question whether she’d be able to compete in Paris 2024.

“Every time I returned, I felt something different, another foot injury,” she explained to Olympics.com. “I wondered ‘what’s my year gonna be like?’ Many people know, but I wanted to stop training. I said, ‘What am I doing here?’ I can’t compete in my best form. I always want to be among the best.”