Sebastian Rivera turned to Jeff Buxton in his corner and implored his coach to hit the challenge button for a video review. 

There were a little more than two minutes left in the 65-kilogram bronze medal match in Paris and the New Jersey native’s four-point lead had just dissolved in flash when Mongolia’s Tulga Tumur-Ochir hit a footsweep that took Rivera to his back. The scoring sequence was borderline enough that the Rivera camp pondered the consequences of pressing the button resting in front of Buxton in the red corner. 

“I was tired,” Rivera said. “I wanted a break, and luckily he said, ‘Get your ass out there and wrestle.’” 

It proved to be a wise and pivotal decision by Buxton. 

With Rivera needing to come up with two points in the closing seconds, the former Northwestern and Rutgers star got to double-underhooks, forcing Tumur-Ochir to throw a desperation headlock attempt. Rivera ducked underneath it and came out behind the Mongolian in a quadpod position. Initially, Tumur-Ochir appeared to avoid collapsing to the mat as the final seven seconds melted away. 

But banking the challenge earlier in the match allowed Rivera’s camp to utilize it later. And the video review of the final sequence showed Tumur-Ochir’s right knee had touched the mat with Rivera behind him, meeting takedown criteria, and the jury of appeals awarded Rivera with the winning score in a 10-9 victory. 

Rivera’s repechage run nearly got shut down before it even started Sunday. He said he tweaked his right knee in Saturday’s 8-6 quarterfinal loss to eventual gold medalist Kotaro Kiyooka of Japan. Rivera said he could barely walk when he woke up Sunday morning and had difficulty putting his shoes on.  

He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to wrestle in first repechage match against Moldova’s Maxim Sacultan — and things weren’t looking great to start the bout, either. 

Sacultan raced out to an early 4-0 lead, but Rivera stormed back with a takedown and three gutwrenches to go up 8-4. He reeled off 15 consecutive points, 10 of which came from turns on top. 

Rivera’s par terre offense got him back in the match early on against Tumur-Ochir after the Mongolian hit a four-point move to open the scoring. Early in the second period, Rivera snagged Tumur-Ochir’s left leg and reeled it in for a takedown and then gutwrenched him three times to go up 8-4. 

That score held for roughly 10 seconds before Tumur-Ochir hit the footsweep that put him back ahead on criteria — the sequence Rivera wanted Buxton to challenge. 

“Thank God Jeff held onto that challenge,” Rivera said. 

Having the challenge pocketed later turned out to be a history-making decision for Puerto Rico. 

Rivera’s bronze is the second Olympic wrestling medal for the country and the first since Jaime Espinal took silver in 2012. 

The bronze also makes Rivera the country’s first multi-time World-level medalist after his runner-up finish at last year’s World Championships. 

This was the kind of international success that prompted Puerto Rican wrestling leaders to zero in on Rivera while he was still competing at Northwestern. It was a quick and easy sell to get Rivera on board to represent his heritage and a country he regularly visited while growing up. 

It made sense to him from a wrestling standpoint, too. 

“I don’t have to go through the gauntlet,” Rivera said, referring to the 65-kilogram depth in the United States. “The American guys are tough as hell and they’re awesome, they’re nice people. There’s nothing against it. I’m happy I made this decision. It makes my life easier, and I love representing Puerto Rico.” 

For Rivera, the bronze in Paris reinforces that he’s “one of the best in the world” at one of international wrestling’s deepest weight classes. 

“I think there was a lot of doubt,” he said. “I gear up for big-time moments. I trained for three months for this thing hard — diet, everything right. These rankings series tournaments, I do it right for two weeks, a month. I have a life, I balance it well. Wrestling isn’t my life. I like to do other things, but when I gear up for something with three hard months and find peace in my suffering, I do well, and that’s the same thing at Worlds.”

Rivera considers his approach to the sport a competitive advantage. 

“For me it is because I like to enjoy life,” he said. “My parents live on the beach in New Jersey. I like to enjoy myself, have a beer here and there, I’m a normal dude. But when it’s big-time moments, I gear up for them and that’s the way you should do it. During the college season it’s a little different, but in this international stuff, you can do that. You can live a good life and gear up for the big-time moments and win stuff like this.”