“My mindset is kind of like, I achieved my dreams, I achieved my goals, but I still have more,” Hezly Rivera said earlier this year. “So I kind of like to put that (the Olympics) in the back of my head for now.” That sentiment, once reflective of steady ambition, rang differently Friday night in Hoffman Estates. Under the lights of the NOW Arena, the reigning Olympic gold medalist took the bars, expected to build momentum in a packed U.S. Classic field. Instead, the 17-year-old’s set unraveled mid-routine, culminating in a frightening fall that left the crowd silent and her future this season uncertain.

At the U.S. Classic on July 19th, Rivera had managed to navigate the early sequence with moderate control, though signs of trouble were evident. Her rhythm faltered, connections fell apart, and her trademark Tkachevs lacked elevation. She appeared misaligned heading into the dismount. The form in the air was compromised, rotation incomplete, and the landing was hard and uncontrolled. It sent her crashing to the mat. Medical staff hovered nearby, but Rivera stood up unassisted and walked off slowly. Her score, an 11.950, reflected the technical collapse.

This stumble marked a rare and public misstep for Rivera, who just twelve months ago was a teenager breaking into the senior ranks while grieving the loss of her grandmother. In 2024, she placed 24th at the Classic, climbed to sixth at nationals, and secured fifth at Trials. That performance earned her the final spot on Team USA for Paris, making her the youngest American athlete across all sports at those Games. “Every time in the gym, I don’t think that I went to the Olympics,” she told NBC Sports. “I’m just kind of training like I’ve almost never been, in a way.”

The approach served her well through the Olympic build-up, but the struggles at Classics now invite a different set of questions. The fall was not her only problem. Before it, missed links and lagging execution dogged her routine. Even without the fall, her set would have trailed. It didn’t help that Myli Lew, who performed just before Rivera, posted a polished 14.050 on the same apparatus. And that was not all. Her misfortune in the US Classics continued as Rivera had yet another fall while performing on the beam.

While Rivera seemed physically unharmed, the broader concern surrounds her readiness and rhythm. The Olympic season placed her under an unforgiving lens. This early meet in the 2025 calendar may not define her, but it has certainly reshaped the conversation. And after two back-to-back falls, fans too flocked to their social media handles to share their two cents on her performance.

Hezly Rivera’s shocking fall at the US Classic sparks fan uproar and fresh doubts

Rivera’s bars’ meltdown not only shook her confidence but also raised doubts about the guidance behind her preparation. One fan, unimpressed by her execution and crash landing, wrote that they were “gonna wonder who let hezly rivera do that, low ass tkatchev from maloney and that face plant dismount.. well valeri..”. It was like a direct call-out suggesting the routine should never have made it past training.

Her unraveling wasn’t limited to the fall. It began with faltering swings and missed elements early on. As another fan observed, “Hezly Rivera with a bit of a rough bars set…swing and rhythm looked pretty off overall and it created some missed connections, two REALLY low Tkachevs, and a low dismount that ended up crashing.” This wasn’t a one-mistake routine; it was structurally flawed from the start.

The dismount sparked audible reactions in the arena, and online too. One concerned user recalled, “The timing was all kinda off on that dismount I audibly yelped that coulda been so bad whew.” That moment encapsulated the scare: a poorly timed release, incomplete rotation, and a hard landing that left fans breathless even before the score appeared.

Downplaying the fall wasn’t an option for some. When others tried to label it as just a rough moment, one sharply responded, “Just a bit? That was terrifying.” The visual impact of the crash, legs flailing mid-air, and a jarring finish was far from ordinary, especially for someone who had just stood atop the Olympic podium weeks prior.

Her night on bars was disappointing enough, but a second fall on the beam added to the alarm. As a fan dryly concluded, “Boy, Hezly Rivera is left with the bars!”—the comment captured how the apparatus, once expected to be her momentum builder, now symbolized her unraveling. For Rivera, the 2025 season hasn’t begun with reassurance, but reckoning. How she responds next may define not just her year, but her place in the sport’s evolving landscape!