Jade Barbosa

Gymnastics career

Barbosa was the Brazilian junior national champion in the all-around in 2006, and became a senior in 2007.

She has been a popular sports personality in Brazil since her first major appearance at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. In December 2007, she was named Brazil's Sportswoman of the Year, an award given in previous years to gymnasts Laís Souza and Daiane dos Santos.

2007

Barbosa won her first medal in a senior international competition at the 2007 Cottbus World Cup in Germany, where she placed second on the vault.

At the 2007 Pan American Games, she placed fourth in the all-around after falling from the uneven bars and balance beam and going out of bounds on floor exercise. The following day, she competed in the vault finals, where she placed first with a score of 14.912, making her the only non-American woman to win a gold medal in gymnastics at the Games. She also won a bronze medal in the floor final, behind Americans Rebecca Bross and Shawn Johnson, and a silver with the Brazilian team.

At the 2007 World Championships, Barbosa tied with Vanessa Ferrari of Italy for the bronze medal in the women's all-around, scoring 15.9 on vault, 14.95 on bars, 15.7 on beam, and 14.0 on floor. She placed fifth in the vault finals, seventh in the beam finals, and fifth with the team, behind the United States, China, Romania, and Italy.

In October 2007, Barbosa took part in the World Cup event in Stuttgart, Germany, and won two silver medals, one on the vault and one on the floor. At the end of the year, she performed a Cheng vault—one of the most difficult vaults in the world, named after the Chinese Olympian Cheng Fei—in a Brazilian competition. Because she could also perform an Amanar, she became a contender for the Olympic vault title.

Also in 2007, Barbosa won the Brazilian senior national all-around title (defeating 2006 champion Daniele Hypólito), along with the national titles on vault and balance beam.

2008

Barbosa's first international competition in 2008 was the Cottbus World Cup. She won two silver medals there, one on vault and the other on floor.

In May 2008, Barbosa took part in the World Cup event in Moscow. During the vault finals, she was expected to perform an Amanar—a Yurchenko vault with 2.5 twists—but instead, she performed a double-twisting Yurchenko and a laid-out Podkopayeva. She won the gold medal, tied with Russian gymnast Anna Pavlova.

In June, Barbosa won the silver medal in the all-around at the Brazilian National Championships, behind Ana Claudia Silva and ahead of Hypólito. She also won gold medals on beam, vault and floor exercise. Later in the same month, Barbosa was the all-around champion at the Vitaly Scherbo International Gymnastics Cup, where Brazil also won a team gold medal.

At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Barbosa helped Brazil qualify to the team finals, where they placed eighth. Individually, she qualified to the all-around finals in eighth place and to the vault finals in seventh. She fell on floor and vault in the all-around final and finished tenth, followed by a seventh-place finish on vault.

2009–12

Barbosa had a serious injury after the Olympics and was unable to compete for some months. In 2009, she competed at Nationals and placed 1st on floor, beating Ethiene Franco and Priscila Cobello.

Her first major international competition after the Olympics was the 2010 World Championships, where she placed 15th in the all-around and third in the vault final, behind Alicia Sacramone and Aliya Mustafina. The following year, she placed fourth on vault at the 2011 World Championships after twisting her ankle on her second vault. Brazil placed 14th in the team competition, which was not enough to qualify a full team to the 2012 Olympics.

At the 2012 Olympic Test Event, however, Brazil had a second opportunity to qualify to the Olympics, and was successful. Barbosa also won an individual gold medal on vault at the Test Event. She was not selected for the 2012 Summer Olympics because of a contract dispute with the Brazilian federation. Barbosa struggled with injuries and returned to gymnastics in June 2015 after undergoing surgery on her right knee.

2016

Barbosa qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics through the test event held in April. She contributed an overall score of 55.823 toward the Brazil team's first-place finish.

In qualifications on 7 August, Barbosa finished in 23rd place with an overall score of 56.499, behind teammates Rebeca Andrade and Flávia Saraiva. In the team final on 9 August, she contributed scores of 14.933 on vault, 14.391 on uneven bars, 13.033 on balance beam and 14.266 on floor toward the team's eighth-place finish.

Barbosa was substituted in for teammate Flávia Saraiva by the Brazilian federation for the all-around final on 11 August, reportedly so that Saraiva could concentrate on preparing for the balance beam final. Barbosa scored 13.700 on balance beam, but she suffered an injury while performing her floor routine and had to withdraw. As a result, she Did Not Finish.

Life outside gymnastics

Barbosa has become a very popular sports personality in Brazil since her first major appearance at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. She has developed a big fanbase among young girls and teenagers in Brazil.

In December 2007 Barbosa was elected Brazil's Sportswoman of the year, an award also given in previous years to gymnasts Laís Souza and Daiane dos Santos.

In December 2014, Barbosa has stated that rumours that she has gotten breast implants are untrue. Rather, she says, her increased breast size is due to her being less active recently and gaining more body fat.

2006–08 Code of Points

2009–12 Code of Points