The U.S. women’s gymnastics team heading to the Paris Olympics was selected after two days of competition at the trials in Minneapolis. Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera will be competing in the Olympics later this month.
Rivera, who will be making her Olympics debut, is the team’s only teenager. She turned 16 on June 4. She had been eyed by the selection committee as a promising athlete for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“My mentality was that I had nothing to lose, so I just went out there and did my best, gave it my all, most importantly,” Rivera said, according to NBC News. “I was pretty surprised to hear my name, but I’ve also been working for this my whole life.”
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The gymnast had two first-place all-around finishes in national competitions. She won the women’s junior all-around at the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships with a score of 52.000 in the finals. Rivera also has an all-around win at the 2023 Winter Cup with a finale of 53.350, according to the Olympics.
She is currently being trained at WOGA Gymnastics in Dallas by Valeri and Anna Liukin, the parents and coaches of Nastia Liukin, who was an all-around champion at the Beijing games in 2008.
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Rivera got into gymnastics after her parents were approached by the staff at a gymnastics facility where her friend was throwing a birthday party. She was 5 years old.
The Olympics won’t be her first time competing on the international stage. Rivera arrived first during her international debut at the 2022 DTB Pokal Cup in Stuttgart, Germany. She then helped the American team win silver at the Junior World Championships the following year and won the bronze at the 2024 Jesolo Trophy in Italy.
