She was one of the darlings of Brazil’s Rio Olympics campaign but it all came crashing down for gymnastics star Jade Barbosa.

The 25 year old Rio local took a dramatic tumble in the all round individual event. To the dismay of her home crowd she left the stadium in a wheelchair.

It was a brutal end for the two-time Olympian who has struggled for the last few years with injury. In recent weeks though she has shown a full recovery, and if her Instagram pictures are anything to go by she is in better shape than ever.

#sunday ⛱ A post shared by Jade Barbosa (@jade_barbosa) on Jan 15, 2017 at 3:30am PST

Clearly she is in good nick and it’s the result of some seriously hard work.

“I usually work seven hours a day…”

☄️ A post shared by Jade Barbosa (@jade_barbosa) on Dec 17, 2016 at 1:23pm PST

Barbosa hasn’t had the best of times at the Olympics. In 2012 a contract squabble caused her to miss out on a London appearance completely.

#vem2017 🎉 A post shared by Jade Barbosa (@jade_barbosa) on Dec 31, 2016 at 9:59am PST

At 25 there is still time for Barbosa to make an impact but the road to redemption won’t be an easy one.

#keepgoing #timebrasil ☄ A post shared by Jade Barbosa (@jade_barbosa) on Apr 1, 2016 at 3:24pm PDT

With the Lima Pan Am games and Tokyo Olympics in 2019 and 2020 respectively, she is going to have some stiff opposition from her younger teammates to make selection.



by Michael T. Lynch – contributor