"Yeah, it feels so surreal," Rivera told NBC in an interview that aired Monday morning. "I cannot believe that I’m here right now. It’s just all my hard work has been paying off. I’m so excited to represent Team USA at the Olympics."

Coming into the 2024 US Olympic Trials, Rivera said she felt like the underdog and first considered the trials as a "stepping stone” for the 2028 Olympics.  Over the course of the two-day meet Rivera placed fifth in the all-around, first on the balance beam, fourth on uneven bars, and eighth on the floor. She was officially named part of the USA Team on Sunday in an official ceremony. 

"I am so grateful to be here and to be selected on this Olympic team. I have made so many sacrifices to get here, so I want to thank God, my coaches, family, my friends, and my teammates. I just can’t believe that I am here," Rivera said at the ceremony. 

The USA Olympic selection committee openly spoke on her Olympics potential — for Los Angeles in 2028, and perhaps for an alternate spot to Paris. Alicia Sacramone Quinn, 2008 Olympic silver medalist and the strategic lead at USA Gymnastics said the selection committee “had their eye” on Rivera for that future time frame but said she was struck by Rivera's cool demeanour over the weekend of the Olympic Trials in Minneapolis.

The New Jersey native is no stranger to competition and has already garnered major success over the last year and a half, previously winning the all-around title in the junior division at the 2023 US Championships and the all-around title for the 2023 Winter Cup. She became eligible for senior-level competition in 2024, making her debut at the 2024 Winter Cup, where she placed third in the all-around.

Rivera is set to make her debut on the biggest world stage of all on 28 July in the women’s gymnastics qualification rounds in Paris.