(NEW YORK) — Of the nearly 600 American athletes representing the red, white and blue at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hezly Rivera will make history as the youngest athlete to compete for Team USA.
The New Jersey-born gymnast secured her spot on the highly competitive women’s team — led by Simone Biles — with a gold medal winning balance beam performance at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Minnesota last month.
Meet the youngest athlete on Team USA, Hezly Rivera
Ahead of the first women’s gymnastics qualifying event on Sunday, July 28, the first-time Olympian spoke to ABC News’ Good Morning America about what it means to be part of the impressive five-woman roster alongside 2020 Tokyo veterans Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Jade Carey.
“It feels incredible — this doesn’t have to happen too often, so I’m very excited to be the youngest team member of the group,” Rivera, 16, said. “I felt so happy and super excited because this is what I’ve been working for my whole life. So for it to finally come true is so exciting and so surreal.”
Team USA’s rising star may be the rookie of the team, but Rivera is going into the competition with confidence.
“I need to trust myself and trust my training, because my muscle memory is there and it’s very strong,” she said. “I just have to do what I do in the gym. And I know everything will be perfect.”
While Rivera doesn’t know which events she’ll be competing in at the Games just yet, she told GMA that in practice she’s training for “vault, bars, beam and floor.”
Rivera’s sister was the first person who picked up on her early enthusiasm for gymnastics “because from a very young age, I was already doing cartwheels and handstands and bridges everywhere.”
But it wasn’t until she attended a friends’ fifth birthday party at a local gym, where she recalled “flipping around on all the equipment” and said, “the coaches told my parents that they should put me — on a little mini team — and that I had potential.”
Hezly Rivera facts and career highlights
National Competition Results
2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Minneapolis, Minn: Gold in balance beam; 4th in uneven bars; 5th in all-around; 8th in floor exercise
2024 Winter Cup, Louisville, Ky: Gold in balance beam; bronze medalist in all-around and floor exercise
2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, San Jose, Calif: Gold in all-around, uneven bars and balance beam
2023 Winter Cup, Louisville, Ky.: Gold all-around, balance beam and floor exercise
2022 OOFOS U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Tampa, Fla: Bronze in floor exercise
2022 U.S. Classic, Salt Lake City, Utah: Gold in balance beam; silver in all around and floor exercise
2022 Winter Cup, Frisco, Texas: Bronze in all-around
2018 Hopes Classic, Salt Lake City, Utah: Gold in floor exercise
International Competition Results
2024 Jesolo Trophy, Jesolo, Italy: Bronze in team competition
2023 Junior World Championships, Antalya, Turkey: Silver in team competition
2022 DTB Pokal Cup, Stuttgart, Germany: Gold in team competition
Nickname: Hez
Birthday: June 4, 2008
Hometown: Oradell, NJ
High School Graduation Year: 2026
Year she began gymnastics: 2013
Favorite Event: Bars
Parents: Henry Rivera and Heidy Ruiz, who are both from the Dominican Republic
Siblings: Hanly Rivera and Carhelis Abreu
Favorite school subject: Math
Hobbies or favorite activities: Shopping
Favorite book: Mamba Mentality
Favorite movie: Spy Kids 2
Favorite Food: Rice and beans with chicken and avocado
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