Hezly Rivera won a gold medal for Team USA in the women's gymnastics team final, despite not stepping foot on the competition floor or performing any moves on Tuesday.
The 16-year-old New Jersey native was not part of the U.S. lineup for the team final after failing to qualify in any of the individual events (uneven bars, floor, beam or vault). It was the first time since 2008 that Team USA had a women's gymnastics member not compete in the team final.
While it's not the same as competing with her teammates, the youngest member of Team USA across all sports in the 2024 Paris Olympics said she was happy to be there with them for their win.
"This was just an amazing experience, you know, and just being with the team and supporting them meant the world to me," Rivera said after Team USA captured the gold. "It was so surreal. I was just everywhere, my mind was everywhere. But I’m so happy to be here and this team has worked so hard, so I’m so proud of each and every one of us."
After not qualifying for any individual finals, it brings Rivera's Olympics to an end. In the qualifying round, she was the lowest scorer on the two events she competed, bars and beam.
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She landed a 13.900 in the uneven bars, good enough to tie for 13th behind China and not too far behind Team USA's Suni Lee and Biles, who both scored above a 14.000 in that event. Rivera earned a 12.633 in beam, coming in at 26th place. Biles (14.733) and Lee (14.033) came in second and third behind China's Yaqin Zhou (14.866).
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The only tweak to the lineup for the final was on floor, where 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey will sit. Carey, who will vault, struggled on floor during qualifying and said afterward she is dealing with an illness.
Biles called the Paris Olympics the "redemption tour" for the U.S. women's gymnastics team — and redemption they got. Biles joined Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and Jade Carey in bringing gold back to the United States after taking team silver behind Russia in Tokyo.
The 27-year-old Biles competed in all four events of the team final despite a calf injury, which she suffered in floor warmups during qualifying on Sunday She still topped the all-around with the highest scores on floor and vault during the qualifying, and it didn't appear to hamper her efforts in the final on Tuesday.
Lee bested Biles on bars and beam, Tuesday, but Biles was near the top of the charts of every rotation, as expected. This was the team event; the two will face each other later in the Games at the individual all-around.
Ultimately, the U.S. women scored 44.100 on vault, 43.332 on uneven bars, 41.699 on beam and a 42.165 on floor en route to the gold medal.
The outcome — the Americans on top with the rest of the world looking up — was not in doubt from the moment Chiles began the night by drilling her double-twisting Yurchenko vault.
By the time Biles, the left calf that bothered her during qualifying heavily taped, stepped onto the floor for the final event — a floor exercise set to music by Taylor Swift and Beyonce — her fifth Olympic gold medal was well in hand.
The 27-year-old provided the exclamation point anyway, sealing the Americans' third gold in its last four trips to the Games.
Already looking forward to the next time you can catch Team USA in action? The individual all-around final takes place on Thursday. Here's how to watch Team USA women's gymnastics events.
