New Jerseyan who starred as wrestler at Rutgers serves as Puerto Rico flag-bearer at Olympics

Former Rutgers wrestling star and Toms River native Sebastian Rivera carried out a huge honor Friday as Puerto Rico’s flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The ceremony took place on the iconic Seine River with each country floating along the route on boats.

Rivera will compete in men’s freestyle wrestling as the No. 4 seed in the 65-kilogram weight class. He qualified after earning a silver medal at the 2023 world championships in Serbia last September.

After transferring from Northwestern, Rivera went a remarkable 42-4 in two seasons with the Scarlet Knights.

That included a 30-1 mark in his final college season and a third-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit.

Rivera was a five-time All-American and two-time Big Ten champion during his time with Northwestern and Rutgers. He finished his college career with 115 total wins, including 20 at the NCAA championships.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New Jerseyan who starred as wrestler at Rutgers serves as Puerto Rico flag-bearer at Olympics