MINNEAPOLIS — The moment still hasn’t quite sunk in for 16-year-old Hezly Rivera, who went from star of the future to Paris-bound teammate of reigning Olympic medalists over the course of a single weekend.
The newest and youngest member of the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team was selected to join a squad laden with medals and international star power.
“Yeah, it feels so surreal,” Rivera told NBC’s “TODAY” show in an interview that aired Monday morning. “I cannot believe that I’m here right now. It’s just all my hard work has been paying off. I’m so exited to represent Team USA at the Olympics.”
Rivera, who turned 16 on June 4, said making the team fulfilled a long-time goal.
“I’m so grateful to be here and to be called to the Olympic team, this has been my dream ever since I was 8,” she said.
Someone will have to drive Rivera to the airport because she doesn’t have a driver’s license yet, teammate Simone Biles said.
"She’s so young. She can’t even drive! Should we teach her how to drive before we get to Paris?" Biles joked on Sunday night.
Coming into this past weekend in Minneapolis, the selection committee was well aware of Rivera and openly spoke on her Olympics potential — for Los Angeles in 2028, and perhaps for an alternate spot to Paris.
Alicia Sacramone Quinn, 2008 Olympic silver medalist and the strategic lead at USA Gymnastics, said the selection committee “had their eye” on Rivera for that future time frame.
Quinn, who heads the selection committee, said she was struck by Rivera's cool demeanor over the weekend.
“I asked her before [the meet], ‘Are you nervous?,’” Quinn said Sunday. “She’s like ‘No ... you look nice by the way.’ I was like ‘Thank you,’ but I was very impressed with her demeanor.”
Quinn added: “She is just so mature for a 16-year-old and she’s always very calm."
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With Tokyo veterans Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey still in top form, a fifth spot seemed highly unlikely for Rivera.
But after injuries to Olympic contenders Shilese Jones, Kayla Dicello and Skye Blakely at the trials, Rivera seized her Paris opportunity and forced the issue all weekend.
Rivera turned in a strong overall showing, particularly in her specialties, the beam and uneven bars, where Team USA was suddenly lacking in depth after the rash of weekend injuries.
Rivera insisted she didn’t feel any pressure and approached the competition like any other weekend in the gym.
“I thought of it as any other meet, just doing my own thing and basically just doing what I do in the gym,” she told reporters late Sunday night in Minneapolis. “It’s just me and the beam or me and the bars.”
Coming into Minneapolis as a long shot also helped lessen any nerves.
“I think I’m like the underdog," she said. "I don’t think there was so much pressure on me, which is also good. It feels really good just to do my own thing.”
The Olympics rookie said she’ll lean heavily on the advice of her veteran teammates.
“They’ve already been through it,” said Rivera, who grew up in New Jersey but now calls Texas home. “They’ve been through the journey, they’ve been to the Olympic games. They’ve been through the pressure. I think they’ll be able to mentor me and help me so much.”
Rivera thanked her teammates, friends and loved ones, especially her father Henry Rivera.
Cameras caught the immigrant from the Dominican Republic overcome with joy when his daughter’s name was called out Sunday night at Target Center.
Rivera called him “the best dad in the whole world.”
“He’s been with me since the beginning, always been supporting me since I was little,” she said. “It’s been so amazing having a father like him. He is my hero, my rock. He always pushes me to be my best but he’s always comforting when things get rough.”
The women's gymnastics competition in Paris kicks off on July 28.
Kaetlyn Liddy reported from Minneapolis and David K. Li from New York City.
CORRECTION (July 1, 2024, 6:20 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misspelled the gymnast’s first name. She is Hezly Rivera, not Hezley.
