For the first time since 2008, a member of the U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team will not compete in the team final.
Hezly Rivera is not part of Team USA's lineup for Tuesday's final. She did not qualify for any individual finals, so as it stands now, her Olympics are over. In the qualifying round, she was the lowest scorer on the two events she competed, bars and beam.
Should the team win, Rivera will still receive a gold medal.
The 16-year-old athlete, the youngest Team USA member across all sports in the 2024 Paris Olympics, competed Sunday in two of the events for all-around gymnastics qualifying, helping the U.S. women notch the top overall score to advance.
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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).
Set in stone, ready to bring it home. ⤵️
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) July 29, 2024
The U.S. Women will compete for a spot on the medal podium during tomorrow’s Team Final!
VT ➡️ Chiles, Carey, Biles
UB ➡️ Chiles, Biles, Lee
BB ➡️ Chiles, Lee, Biles
FX ➡️ Lee, Chiles, Biles pic.twitter.com/7Z7hdGnNhq
The Americans are heavily favored to win gold after finishing runner-up to Russia in Tokyo three years ago.
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Biles will go last for the U.S. on three events — vault, floor exercise and balance beam — and will be up second on uneven bars.
Jordan Chiles, who finished fourth in the all-around during qualifying behind Biles, Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and 2020 Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, will also compete on all four events.
Chiles, part of the silver medal-winning U.S. team three years ago, will lead off on vault, bars and balance beam and go second behind Lee on floor exercise.
Lee will be the third American on uneven bars, her signature event. She will be second on beam and first on floor exercise.
The only unexpected tweak to the lineup is 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.
Here's how to watch Team USA women's gymnastics events.
