By Rich Chrampanis
TOMS RIVER – Sebastian Rivera is sitting on top of a fire truck just two days after the closing of the 2024 Paris Olympics but he may as well be on top of the world after returning to New Jersey as a wrestling bronze medalist.
The Christian Brothers Academy state champion and five-time All-American at Northwestern and Rutgers saw family, friends and members of his club team, Elite Wrestling, line the streets of Toms River for a hero’s welcome after representing Puerto Rico in the Paris Games.
“Yeah, this is my family,” Rivera said in a sea of supporters. “You got a village and they all came out and it just means so much that I could do this for them and show that to all these young guys that it’s possible.”
In 2016, Rivera won the 113-pound state championship at CBA with a sudden victory pin over future NCAA champion Patrick Glory in Atlantic City, one of the most dramatic finishes in New Jersey high school wrestling history. Fittingly, there was more drama in his bronze medal match against Mongolia’s Tulta Tomor-Ochir.
Trailing 9-8, a last-second two-point takedown went to video replay after time expired. Rivera’s family was in the stands nervously waiting for the decision and erupted when “Sea Bass” scored a 10-9 win to take home the bronze.
“I don’t think I took a breath during that moment,” Melissa Rivera, Sebastian’s mother said.
“But then they had it up on the screen, so they show it like in slow motion and once we saw the knee hit, I mean, everybody in the arena was like, two, we’re screaming, two, that’s two!”
Back home, UFC legend Frankie Edgar was on the edge of his seat, watching the wrestler he’s known since birth come through at the buzzer.
“This kid knows how to give you a heart attack, but that’s just the way he goes and he has a ‘no quit’ attitude,” Edgar said. “He’s such a great example for my kids and the kids in the area. (I) love this kid.”
Fans, family and members of Rivera’s club, Elite Wrestling, lined the streets of his town to welcome home the former CBA state champion. 
Rivera’s family, including mother Melissa Rivera, father Stephen Rivera and sister Jade Rivera, were with him in Paris during his medal-winning moment. 
Rivera is the first Olympic wrestling medalist from the Shore Conference.
Rivera said he was confident as he waited for the video review.
“I knew I scored,” Rivera said. “I felt his knee hit, so I was confident.”
“As soon as we saw it, my coach was ecstatic and we knew that we got it done.”
“It was just a surreal moment,” Rivera said.
How do you celebrate winning an Olympic medal? Rivera went into a gymnastics routine that would make Simone Biles proud, getting high in the air to perfectly execute a double backflip with a full twist.
“My sister, she taught me a lot of gymnastics at a young age and I held onto it for a good moment,” Rivera said. “And that was the best moment to show everybody that I got a little full (twist) in me, you know?”
“It’s unbelievable that he even mentioned me,” said Jade Rivera, Sebastian’s sister. “He did not have to mention me at all. It’s great that he was able to pull that and it was smooth. There’s a lot that can go wrong with a full (twist). It was a great celebration. “
In all, the Shore Conference’s first Olympic wrestling medalist went 3-1 in competition, losing in the quarterfinal to eventual Olympic gold medalist Kiyooka Kotaro of Japan. Rivera needed a win in the repechage round to reach the bronze medal match and his two victories came just hours before the closing ceremony.
Rivera gave Puerto Rico one of its two medals of the 2024 games and represented the toughness and grit of the New Jersey wrestling community. (Even though Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, the International Olympic Committee decides who is allowed to compete and has viewed Puerto Rico as independent from the United States since 1948 when the island’s athletes first competed in the 1948 London Games.)
“You just find peace in the things you do,” Rivera said. “It’s not easy to be a top-tier wrestler. You’ve got to sacrifice a lot. I sacrificed a lot to get here and it feels really good in your hand because it shows that you did something and all your hard work came to fruition.”
The article originally appeared in the August 15 – 21, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
