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A contingent of 592 athletes will represent the United States across 31 sports at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Among them will be a trio of 16-year-olds.
All three teenage prodigies clinched their berths on Team USA with impressive performances in the pre-Olympic trials. Here, we recap the paths taken by the trio of 16-year-olds who have the honor of representing their country at such a tender age.
Hezly Rivera (Gymnastics)
Rivera — who turned 16 on June 4, 2024 — qualified as the final member of a five-person team in the artistic gymnastics events in Paris, joining the experienced quartet of Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey.
The teenager got some lucky breaks along the way. The three contenders who were in the mix to take the fifth and final spot — Shilese Jones (knee), Skye Blakely (Achilles) and Kayla DiCello (Achilles) — were forced to withdraw from the trials with injuries.
Also, the 2024 Paris Olympics will feature a 5-woman team, unlike the Tokyo Olympics where Biles and Co. formed a 4-woman team.
The injuries and the format change opened up a fifth spot, and Rivera seized her moment after two days of intense trials in Minneapolis on June 29 and June 30. In the finals, she scored 14.300 on bars and a 14.275 on beam, tied for best across the event.
Rivera, the 2023 junior all-around national champion, joined the senior team in early 2024 as a 15-year-old. While she doesn’t have much international experience entering Paris, she was part of the team that won silver at the 2023 junior world championships.
Paige Heyn (Skateboarding)
A 16-year-old skateboarder from Tempe, Arizona, Heyn lit up X Games events and the world’s other biggest skateboarding events through 2022 and 2023 before qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Some of those performances include finishing third at the 2023 World Skateboard Tour Lausanne, the inaugural Pan American Games 2023 street event, and the STU Open 2023 event in Rio de Janeiro.
In local American events, she finished first place at the 2022 USA Skateboarding National, second at the 2023 Phoenix Am, and third in the 2023 SLS Super Crown. Heyn also impressed at the X-Games Japan and X-Games California events in 2023, finishing ahead of several experienced skateboarders.
Her X Games profile described her as, “A strong all-around skater, she has competed in street, park, and vert events since 2017. She’s among the first to bring switch rail tricks to street competition, helping her emerge as the top-ranked skater set to represent USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics in July 2024.”
While a lot of skateboarding enthusiasts have been aware of her exploits, the world will be introduced to her remarkable skills at the Paris Olympics.
Quincy Wilson (Track and Field)
The 16-year-old phenom finished sixth in the men’s 400m final on June 24, missing out on a berth as an individual sprinter. He was ultimately given a roster slot on the 4x400m relay team by Team USA relay coach Mike Marsh and the track and field selection panel.
Wilson turned 16 in January 2024. By getting the nod in the Olympics squad, he became the youngest male track-and-field athlete to represent Team USA, surpassing the previous record set by sprinter Jim Ryun, who made the U.S. Olympic team in 1964 at 17 years and 137 days old.
While the youngest Olympian track-and-field athlete record still belongs to Esther Stroy Harper, who was just 15 when she ran the 400m at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, Wilson will make history in Paris as the youngest Team USA male sprinter ever.
Wilson had a remarkable showing at the Olympic trials where he broke the world record for under-18 runners, not once but twice. He originally beat Justin Robinson’s 2019 record of 44.84 seconds in the 400m dash, running 44.66 seconds on June 21. Remarkably, on June 23, Wilson broke his own record by running a 44.59 in the semis.
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