--- title: "Hezly Rivera to lead U.S. at World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam; Favored to make U.S. Worlds team" sdDatePublished: "2026-08-20T13:44:00Z" source: "https://www.olympics.com/en/news/hezly-rivera-ready-to-lead-first-world-gymnastics-championships" topics: - name: "sport" identifier: "medtop:15000000" - name: "sport event" identifier: "medtop:20001108" - name: "sport achievement" identifier: "medtop:20001301" - name: "gymnastics" identifier: "medtop:20000942" - name: "Olympic Games" identifier: "medtop:20001177" - name: "injury" identifier: "medtop:20000456" locations: - "McKinney" - "Phoenix" - "Crossville" - "South Holland" - "Île-de-France" - "Indonesia" - "Brazil" --- Hezly Rivera to lead U.S. at World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam; Favored to make U.S. Worlds team U.S. star Hezly Rivera is ready to lead at her first World Gymnastics Championships U.S. star Hezly Rivera is ready to lead at her first World Gymnastics Championships The Olympic team champion defended her U.S. all-around title this month in Phoenix, putting herself in line for the Worlds that injury cost her a year ago. U.S. gymnast Hezly Rivera is closing in on the biggest meet she has never been to. She is not there yet. USA Gymnastics names its team for October's World Championships on 1 October, after a selection camp at FlipFest in Crossville, Tennessee but the Olympic team gold medallist is the heavy favorite to make the cut. The global event in Rotterdam would be her Worlds debut a year after injury took her first chance away. She is the two-time reigning U.S. all-around champion, and something she was not in Paris: the veteran in the room. Her win earlier this month at the U.S. Championships in Phoenix showed her more about herself now, two years after her Olympic appearance, than the medal did. Rivera, 18, rallied from a day-one fall to win it, and resetting through frustration. "It showed that you can come back after a little mess up or a little mistake here and there," she told media afterward. Rivera did it all while not being at full strength. "She is, believe it or not, not at her 100 per cent right now," said her coach, Anna Liukin, of WOGA Gymnastics in Plano, Texas. "I would give her probably 85, somewhere there, 90." A pulled hamstring had forced Rivera out of the Pan American Championships weeks earlier, a planned tune-up in Brazil that never happened. Liukin said Rivera's team had wanted the trip to work as a dry run for the long, multi-day meet schedule she'll see in Rotterdam. Phoenix became that test instead. "I think this is a really good reset," Liukin said. Hezly Rivera: What Paris 2024 Olympic team gold taught me about chasing LA28 Paris 2024 team gold medallist Hezly Rivera says the Olympic experience helped her grow as both a competitor and a leader. The gymnast is embracing her mentor role within Team USA and is focused on LA28, where she hopes to add more medals to her resume. Hezly Rivera's long road to a first Worlds She's been in this place before: U.S. champion, a likely star at the U.S. team for the World Championships. But it didn't go according to plan, last time. Last September, on the cusp of the 2025 Worlds in Jakarta, she rolled her ankle in training and was out of the running. "Heartbreaking," Liukin said. "She literally rolled her ankle on a simple drill for vault... it was just a fluke accident that sport unfortunately delivers for you. But nevertheless, I still have PTSD from that." This time, Rivera is aiming at a first Worlds sure of what she would carry into it. "I think it just shows how strong I am mentally, because physically everything's there," she said. "This is a really great setup for World Championships. You don't just compete for one day, you have multiple days." Leading the U.S. team's next wave The role is different now, too. Two years ago in Paris, Rivera was the 16-year-old nobody outside the sport knew, and no one inside the sport had expected to make the Olympic squad. Now, she is the one the younger gymnasts look to. " I just love kind of being a leader in a way, even though I am a vet ," she said. "It's kind of weird to say that I am a vet... if anyone comes up to me with any questions, any of the younger athletes, I'm always happy to answer." Liukin sees it plainly. "She is such a kind person, and she has a lot of, like, motherly qualities in her," she said. " She's strong, so she'll be a good leader ." Rivera learned the part from the women who did it for her. At her first senior U.S. Championships and the Olympic Games Paris 2024 , it was Suni Lee and Jade Carey steadying her. "They were just right there with me," she said. "They were just like big sisters to me." This week, she found herself passing it on, telling a younger teammate, Isabella Anzola, the same kind of thing. "It's a normal day at practice, just do you," Rivera said. "You don't have to do anything better, anything less."