Top facts to know about USA Gymnastics' Hezly Rivera as she faces U.S. Olympic Team Trials
16-year-old American gymnast Hezly Rivera is laying everything on the line at her first U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
With competition day one down, Rivera sits in seventh place going into the final night of competition Sunday (30 June) with an all-around score of 54.825, putting her in a position to be competitive with the best of the best.
As the world watches to see which gymnasts will be selected for the coveted United States Olympic Team going to Paris 2024, here are top facts to know about New Jersey-native, Hezly Rivera.
Rivera’s national success
In the last 18 months, Rivera has clocked two major first-place all-around finishes as a junior at national competitions. The most recent was when she won the women’s junior all-around at the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, California, earning a score of 52.000 in the finals. Earlier that year, she took another all-around win at the 2023 Winter Cup with a 53.350.
At 2024's Winter Cup, she competed in the senior women’s division and finished in third place all-around behind Kayla DiCello and Skye Blakely with a 54.000. She also took third on floor at the event, but snagged the gold medal on the balance beam. The 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials are her first shot at making the coveted American team for Paris.
Hezly Rivera competes in the Floor Exercise during the Senior Women competition of the 2024 Winter Cup at Kentucky on February 24, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Gymnastics chose Rivera
Rivera’s origin story in the sport proves that sometimes the stars just align: at five years old she attended a friend’s birthday party that was held at a gymnastics facility where she stood out so much that her parents were approached by the staff. They suggested that Rivera try out for the team, and now the rest is history.
Today (11 years later), she trains at WOGA Gymnastics in the Dallas, Texas area and is coached by Valeri and Anna Liukin - parents and coaches of Beijing 2008 all-around champion Nastia Liukin.
Rivera trained with the best of the best
Rivera was born just months before her current coaches' daughter, Nastia, stood on top of the world with the Olympic all-around gold medal around her neck. Then, four years later, Gabby Douglas stood in the same place with the London 2012 gold around her neck. Douglas has now been training with Valeri Liukin at WOGA for nearly a year and a half, meaning Rivera is teammates with one of the United States' gymnastics greats.
In an exclusive interview Rivera in 2023, she told Olympics.com "It’s amazing because I know I can definitely make it with all these people around me...I never would have thought I would be training with Nastia’s parents and especially with Gabby! It’s crazy because she gives me so many tips and such encouragement.
“It’s nice to have an older gymnast who has experienced all of it,” she continued of Douglas. “They know everything. It’s amazing.”
Rivera’s international debut
Just two years ago, Rivera made her international debut at the 2022 DTB Pokal Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, where she saw immediate success as the United States landed on top of the podium ahead of Italy and Australia, who took second and third, respectively.
Since then, she has competed on the international stage twice. In 2023, she was a part of the silver-medal American team at the Junior World Championships in Türkiye and earlier this year, she took the team bronze at the 2024 Jesolo Trophy in Italy. She also just missed the podium on the uneven bars to take fourth.