Rutgers Wrestling Star Going for the Gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics

Former Rutgers wrestler Sebastian Rivera will carry Puerto Rico's flag in the Paris Olympics opening ceremonies.

At 35,000 feet over the Atlantic, Sebastian Rivera was headed home, albeit with a little extra weight on his shoulders. 

Twelve hours earlier, the Rutgers wrestling letter winner had earned a silver medal in the 65 kg (143.3 lbs.) weight class at the 2023 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. His top-three finish punched his ticket to represent Puerto Rico at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Rivera reveled in the moment, along with his coaches, Donny Pritzlaff, then-Rutgers associate head coach, and Jeff Buxton, head coach of the Scarlet Knights Wrestling Club. “I was excited,” Rivera says. “We all were.”

After the nine-hour flight touched down in Newark, Rivera returned to New Brunswick and then made his way the next day to Toms River, where he celebrated more with family and friends. Then just as quickly, Rivera put his medal on the shelf and turned his laser focus on all the preparation that lay ahead. 

“I’ve accomplished a big goal just becoming an Olympian,” says Rivera, a five-time All-American and 2022 NCAA bronze medalist. “To win the Olympics would mean so much more.”

He will make his entrance in grand style when he serves as Puerto Rico’s flag bearer for the opening ceremonies, which will be broadcast at 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday, July 26.  “It’s truly an honor to be selected as a flag bearer for Puerto Rico,” Rivera says. “I had never expected it, but am incredibly grateful for the opportunity.”

Rivera will at long last get his chance to compete for an Olympic medal when 65 kg freestyle wrestling begins Saturday, August 10 at Champ de Mars Arena in Paris. It has been more than nine months since his last match. With the wait finally over, Rivera is eager to hit the mat.

“I’ve been doing this for such a long time,” says Rivera, adding that the Olympics might be the last time he wrestles—he has ideas of coaching in his future—so he’s doing this all for “one last good push.” He will turn 26 near the end of August.

 “It’s coming to an end, but I’m excited for it,” he says. “I’m ready to go.”

Peace in the Suffering

As far as Rivera’s concerned, his destiny is in his own hands. In fact, if you ask him, he’ll tell you that he has never lost to a competitor. If he loses at all, he blames himself. “I know I’m one of the best in the world, so if I lose, I didn’t execute properly,” he says.

Leading up to the Olympics, Rivera’s main concern wasn’t on who his next competitor would be, but rather on maintaining a steady training regimen and proper diet. In April, he dialed in his focus and moved in with his aunt at her lagoon-front property in Toms River. Five days a week, he would rise, grab a cup of coffee, and make the hour-long drive to Rutgers to train. Sweat. Recover. Rinse. Repeat.

“If I didn’t want to do it, then I wouldn’t, but I find peace in the suffering we do as a wrestlers,” Rivera says.

Back to his Roots

On many days, Rivera would get in a second workout as well. He often helped out at Elite Wrestling, a wrestling gym owned by his father, Steve Rivera, a former NCAA Division III national champion at Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) and a New Jersey state champion at Manalapan High School. The club is where Sebastian first cut his teeth on the mat as a 4-year-old and trained with seasoned tacticians such as former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. It’s also where he first met Rutgers University wrestling head coach Scott Goodale, who coached Jackson Memorial High School and ran his practices there.

If Rivera’s dad was headed to the club, he was excited to go along for the ride. “I fell in love with it,” says Rivera, who credits his dad as a great teacher and guiding influence. “I always wanted to go and here we are.”

It wasn’t long before Rivera knew that he was good—really good. He won his local youth wrestling league six years in a row, posting a perfect 82-0 record. He then attended Christian Brothers Academy for high school and won the 2016 NJSIAA state championship and the Super 32 Challenge as a 113-pound senior.

Branching Out

Rivera then made his mark at Northwestern University. He finished his redshirt sophomore season with a 30-2 record, which included an undefeated regular season at 125 pounds, and earned his first Big Ten Championship. He then finished his junior redshirt season as the Big Ten Champion at 133 pounds and earned NWCA All-American honors.

During his time at Northwestern, Rivera was invited to represent Puerto Rico and was “all in.” The commonwealth has always felt like a second home to him. He regularly visits his many family members who live on the island and his grandparents own a house there, where they live three months out of the year. “Between Puerto Rico and New Jersey, I feel like my heart is in two places,” he says.

There’s No Place Like Home

Rivera graduated from Northwestern in 2020 and, with two years of eligibility left, he decided it was time to go home and wrestle for Rutgers while working on a graduate degree in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations.  The move allowed him to train with Pritzlaff, who had once trained his coach at Northwestern. “I found out they are very similar coaches,” Rivera says. “It just felt right.”

Rivera also had a chance to compete before the raucous Rutgers faithful, which includes many friends and family. He believes the loud and proud fans at Jersey Mike’s Arena gave him a decided edge in every match. “It gets so loud,” Rivera says. “It’s such a great place to wrestle.”

In his first year of Rutgers action, Rivera was an All-American and placed third at the Big Ten Championships. The following year, he had a 30-1 record at 141 pounds and finished as an All-American and NCAA Bronze Medalist. He capped off his collegiate career with 115 victories.

It’s Go Time

As the clock ticks down to the opening whistle, Rivera believes that his lifetime of training has prepared him for this moment. Don’t expect him to lose focus now.

“It’s six minutes,” he says. “I don’t need to make it bigger than it is. The way I’ve been training, I know it’s all going to be worth it in the end.”

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