Hezly Rivera adds U.S. all-around gymnastics title to her Olympic gold medal
Rivera totaled 112 points in two nights of competition in New Orleans, prevailing by eight tenths over Leanne Wong, a two-time Olympic alternate. Joscelyn Roberson, another Paris Olympic alternate, was third.
Rivera led Wong by two tenths going into the last rotation, then delivered the best floor exercise score (14.2) by anyone on either night.
'I was aware it was pretty close, right before I went on the floor, probably a minute or two,' she said on NBC Sports. 'It's a little bit nerve-racking, but I just tried to trust the process and trust God and just let my body do what it knows how to do.'
While the rest of her Paris gold-medal teammates are taking this season off, Rivera took a major step in her young career.
Rivera is:
at 17, the youngest U.S. all-around champion since Ragan Smith in 2017
the first woman to win junior and senior all-around titles since Jordyn Wieber (2008 and 2011-12)
the sixth American woman since 2000 to pair Olympic gold with a national all-around title (Simone Biles, Wieber, Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Carly Patterson)
Rivera, the 2023 U.S. junior all-around champ, opened the 2024 Olympic selection season by placing 24th at the U.S. Classic (about a week after her grandmother died).
She climbed to sixth in her senior U.S. Championships debut, then fifth at the Olympic Trials as some veteran gymnasts became sidelined by injuries.
Rivera was picked to be the lone rookie on the Olympic team alongside Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles. She competed on uneven bars and balance beam in the qualifying round in Paris.
'My mindset is kind of like, I achieved my dreams, I achieved my goals, but I still have more (goals), so I kind of like to put that (the Olympics) in the back of my head for now,' Rivera, who now has a set of Olympic rings above her bed, said in July. 'Every time in the gym, I don't think that I went to the Olympics. I'm just kind of training like I've almost never been, in a way.'
This week, Rivera had the highest scores on beam and floor, plus shared the bars title with Skye Blakely.
Wong, the most experienced woman in the field at 21, won vault. She was bidding to become the second non-teen in the last 50 years to win a U.S. all-around title after Biles.
Next up: a selection competition in early autumn, after which four women will be named to compete at October's World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia. These worlds include individual events only.
The all-around winner at the selection event automatically makes it. A committee picks the other three, taking into account results at nationals and other 2025 meets. Skye Blakely stars on balance beam, uneven bars
Blakely shows out on bars, beam at nationals
Skye Blakely scored a 14.350 and 14.400 on uneven bars and balance beam respectively on Day 2 of the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships.
Two months ago, Blakely didn't know yet whether she wanted to compete at nationals.
She was runner-up to Biles at the 2024 U.S. Championships, then tore her right Achilles two days before the Olympic Trials.
In her first elite meet in 14 months, Blakely competed strictly on beam and bars this week. She had the top scores on each event Sunday, two days after placing tied for eighth and ninth on them.
'It was first (elite) meet back in a while, but I have high expectations for myself, so day one wasn't exactly what I was looking for,' said Blakely, who did compete this past NCAA season for the University of Florida. 'Just really staying motivated, allowing my family to motivate me, too. And then this morning, just trying to find that fire in me, really staying motivated, dig deep. You know how to do this. I feel like it really reflected in today's competition.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Mexico Beats USA In A Soccer Final Again, This Time 5-0
Mexico keeps on winning soccer silverware over the United States, this time with a blowout win. El Tri beat the U.S., 5-0, in Sunday's 2025 Concacaf Boys' Under-15 Championship for a second straight title in that competition. All five of Mexico's goals in the tournament's final – played in Alajuela, Costa Rica – were scored by Mexican-American players. Juan Carlos Martínez Jr., who had two goals in the final and won the Best Player Award, was born in California and plays for the LA Galaxy academy. Mexico's three other goals in the final were scored by: Paxon Ruffin, born in Florida, who plays in the youth ranks of Liga MX club Monterrey; Da'vian Kimbrough (Sacramento Republic FC); and Lisandro Torres (LAFC academy). Kimbrough and Torres were also born in California. In 2023, Kimbrough signed with Sacramento, which is part of the USL Championship, as a 13-year-old to become the U.S.'s youngest soccer professional. According to ESPN, he was believed to have been the youngest professional in team sports in the major leagues in North America, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and WNBA. It's been a banner year for El Tri's soccer teams, especially on the men's senior side. Mexico won its first Concacaf Nations League title in March over Canada, snapping the U.S. men's national team's hold on that competition. Mexico then followed that by winning its 10th Concacaf Gold Cup in July with a 2-1 win over the USMNT. Along with the U-15 title, Mexico also won the Under-20 Concacaf title on Aug. 5. That was Mexico's 14th U-20 crown and its first since the 2015 edition. The U.S. had won the previous three editions. Mexico and the U.S. are serving as co-hosts (along with Canada) for the FIFA 2026 World Cup, and it's great to see the rivalry and talent on the pitch between the two sides continue to grow for years to come. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Cote: Like it or not UFC & Dana White's world domination tour just grew
UFC is taking on the world, and not just figuratively. UFC is taking on everything else you watch — yeah they're talking to you, NFL — and aiming to be the biggest sports-entertainment product there is. UFC already has the global presence football and other American sports are craving to have, and now the leader in mixed martial arts/combat fighting has an ability it hasn't had before to attract multitudes of new fans. That's what this week's seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast partnership between Paramount+ and UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings means. It wasn't so much a deal as a declaration. Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO and president Dana White, a face of UFC since 2001, likes to say, 'I sell 'Holy s---!' moments for a living.' That should have been the approximate reaction across sports (Holy s---!) when Paramount+ won the broadcast rights beginning in 2026 that ESPN+ owns through the end of this year by paying UFC double the $550 million per year the erstwhile 'WorldWide Leader in Sports' has been paying. (As if aware it could not compete with Paramount+ to keep UFC, ESPN just earlier announced a five-year, $1.6 billion deal to win rights to WWE wrestling for its own planned new streaming service beginning in '26. A consolation prize of sorts.) I must say at this point I'm not a fan in general of sports-business stories (or columns). It's like what is said about the sausage being made. I want to drive that sports car; don't care to see it being assembled.) But I make an exception for this sports-business story because of what it will mean to UFC's growth. UFC's main-card numbered events currently are locked behind a paywall: pay-ver-view. In the ESPN+ deal; the main events cost you $79.99 per show — a lot, especially if it's a so-so card as is frequently the case. But under the new deal the numbered events along with secondary Fight Night cards will be on Paramount+ and occasionally simulcast on CBS Sports with a premium plan at $12.99 a month. White says flatly the relative new affordability will expose his sport to a huge number of newly interested fans among Paramount+'s 77.7 million subscribers, fans who were on the periphery or priced out before. The irony, and another reason the amount of the new deal is a bit jaw-dropping, is that UFC is seen by many as being in a bit of a lull these days. Says respected MMA writer Ariel Helwani: 'Every time I go on these radio shows or podcasts, and especially when I talk to 'mainstream' general sports shows, they always ask me about who's the next star. Who's the next A-lister? Who's the next draw? Who's the next Conor McGregor, the next Jon Jones, GSP [Georges St-Pierre] or Anderson Silva? We are approaching a territory now where it feels like there's a bit of a superstar shortage.' Even former UFC star and current color commentator Danel Cormier buys into that perception. 'There was a time in the UFC where the champions were absolute stars. They were blockbusters, must-see attractions,' he said on the Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast. 'It was Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Conor McGregor. Every guy that held that belt seemed to warrant you coming and paying attention. Brock Lesnar. Cain Velasquez. Great fighters you had to watch. Today, it doesn't seem [that way] so much. Is there a void of that big star?' (I might add Ronda Rousey to any good-old-days lament.) Yet ditching the pay-per-view model starting in '26 will open up a whole new audience to UFC as its awaits its next wave of 'must-see attractions.' The brand will further grow next July with gears turning on a UFC event at the White House as part of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, a product of White's relationship with pal Donald Trump. I am not a huge UFC fan personally. Sort of value MMA in terms of fitness, zen or self-defense more than as a combat sport. There have been four numbered UFC fights in Miami, all at the Heat arena: 47 in 2003, 287 in 2023, 299 in '24 and 315 just this past April. I have not attended any. Neither am I a big admirer of White. But I do appreciate what the man has grown and shaped UFC into: a global force that has staged 743 events since its first in 1993, including 318 numbered events. The U.S. has hosted 524 of those total events, but UFC also is huge in Brazil, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Now TKO Group Holdings, which owns both UFC and WWE, is delving into creating a new boxing venture, with a bipartisan group in Congress already introducing a bill for a different framework for boxing separate from current sanctioning bodies. The streaming services will be watching. No matter if you are a fan of UFC, you can't but credit the business model that just struck gold yet again.
3 hours ago
A UFC fight at the White House? Dana White says it's happening amid Paramount deal
Hours after Paramount and UFC announced a billion-dollar rights deal, Dana White said he had yet to hear from his friend, President Donald Trump, on his thoughts about the fight company's new streaming home. That was fine with White. The UFC CEO was set to travel to Washington on Aug. 28 to meet with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, to catch up and discuss logistics on the proposed Fourth of July fight card next year at the White House. Trump said last month he wanted to stage a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards of 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence. 'It's absolutely going to happen," White told The Associated Press. 'Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House south lawn live on CBS.' The idea of cage fights at the White House would have seemed improbable when the Frittata brothers purchased UFC for $2 million in 2001 and put White in charge of the fledging fight promotion. White helped steer the company into a $4 billion sale in 2016 and broadcast rights deals with Fox and ESPN before landing owner TKO Group's richest one yet — a seven-year deal with Paramount starting in 2026 worth an average of $1.1 billion a year, with all cards on its streaming platform Paramount+ and select numbered events also set to simulcast on CBS. ESPN, Amazon and Netflix and other traditional sports broadcast players seemed more in play for UFC rights — White had previously hinted fights could air across different platforms — but Paramount was a serious contender from the start of the negotiating window. The Paramount and UFC deal came just days after Skydance and Paramount officially closed their $8 billion merger — kicking off the reign of a new entertainment giant after a contentious endeavor to get the transaction over the finish line. White said he was impressed with the vision Skydance CEO David Ellison had for the the global MMA leader early in contract talks and how those plans should blossom now that Ellison is chairman and CEO of Paramount. 'When you talk about Paramount, you talk about David Ellison, they're brilliant businessmen, very aggressive, risk takers,' White said. 'They're right up my alley. These are the kind of guys that I like to be in business with.' The $1.1 billion deals marks a notable jump from the roughly $550 million that ESPN paid each year for UFC coverage today. But UFC's new home on Paramount will simplify offerings for fans — with all content set to be available on Paramount+ (which currently costs between $7.99 and $12.99 a month), rather than various pay-per-view fees. Paramount also said it intends to explore UFC rights outside the U.S. 'as they become available in the future.' UFC matchmakers were set to meet this week to shape what White said would be a loaded debut Paramount card. The UFC boss noted it was still too early to discuss a potential main event for the White House fight night. 'This is a 1-of-1 event,' White said. There are still some moving parts to UFC broadcasts and other television programming it has its hands in as the company moves into the Paramount era. White said there are still moving parts to the deal and that includes potentially finding new homes for 'The Ultimate Fighter,' 'Road To UFC,' and 'Dana White's Contender Series.' It's not necessarily a given the traditional 10 p.m. start time for what were the pay-per-view events would stand, especially on nights cards will also air on CBS. 'We haven't figured that out yet but we will,' White said. And what about the sometimes-contentious issue of fighter pay? Some established fighters have clauses in their contracts that they earn more money the higher the buyrate on their cards. Again, most of those issues are to-be-determined as UFC and Paramount settle in to the new deal — with $1.1 billion headed the fight company's way. 'It will affect fighter pay, big time,' White said. 'From deal-to-deal, fighter pay has grown, too. Every time we win, everybody wins.' Boxer Jake Paul wrote on social media the dying PPV model — which was overpriced for fights as UFC saw a decline in buys because of missing star power in many main events — should give the fighters an increased idea of their worth. 'Every fighter in the UFC now has a clear picture of what the revenue more PPV excuses,' Paul wrote. 'Get your worth boys and girls.' White also scoffed at the idea that the traditional PPV model is dead. There are still UFC cards on pay-per-view the rest of the year through the end of the ESPN contract and White and Saudi Arabia have teamed to launch a new boxing venture that starts next year and could use a PPV home. White, though, is part of the promotional team for the Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford fight in September in Las Vegas that airs on Netflix. 'It's definitely not run it's course,' White said. 'There were guys out there who were interested in pay-per-view and there were guys out there that weren't. Wherever we ended up, that's what we're going to roll with.' White said UFC archival footage 'kills it' in repeat views and those classic bouts also needed a new home once the ESPN deal expires. Just when it seems there's little left for UFC to conquer, White says, there's always more. Why stop at becoming the biggest fight game in the world? Why not rewrite the pecking order in popularity and riches and go for No. 1 in all sports? 'You have the NFL, the NBA, the UFC, and soccer globally,' White said. 'We're coming. We're coming for all of them.'
