Laurie Hernandez

Laurie Hernandez
— Gymnast ♀ —
Hernandez at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Lauren Zoe Hernandez
Nickname(s)	Laurie, Cutie, Human Emoji[1]
Country represented	United States
Born	June 9, 2000 Old Bridge Township, New Jersey
Training location	Morganville, New Jersey
Height	5 ft 0 in (1.52 m)[2]
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	2012–present
Club	Monmouth Gymnastics Academy (MG Elite)
Head coach(es)	Maggie Haney
Assistant coach(es)	Victoria Levine
Music	Wasted by Margaret Da Bop by WTF! Skeletons by Drehz
Medal record Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team 2016 Rio de Janeiro Balance Beam National Championships 2016 St. Louis All-Around 2016 St. Louis Uneven Bars 2016 St. Louis Balance Beam 2016 St. Louis Floor Exercise Pacific Rim Championships 2016 Everett Team

Lauren Zoe "Laurie" Hernandez (born June 9, 2000) is an American artistic gymnast. She competed as a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2016 Summer Olympics,^[3] winning gold in the team event and silver on the balance beam team. Laurie appeared on season 23 of Dancing with the Stars; she was partnered with Val Chmerkovskiy and won the Mirrorball Trophy on November 22, 2016.^[4]

Personal life

Hernandez is the daughter of Wanda and Anthony Hernandez and has a sister, Jelysa, and a brother, Marcus.^[5] She is of Puerto Rican descent^[6][7] and lives in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey. Hernandez is Christian and credits her positive nature to God molding her every day.^[8][9]

Gymnastics career

Junior career

2012

Hernandez's elite career started in 2012 at the U.S. Classic, where she placed 11th in the junior division at the age of 12. Through the Classic, she qualified to the National Championships in St. Louis, where she placed 21st after two days of competition.

2013

Hernandez's first meet of the 2013 season was the WOGA Classic, where she placed second in the all-around. In June, she competed at the American Classic in Huntsville, Texas. There, she placed first on floor exercise, second in the all-around behind Ariana Agrapides, and third on balance beam and vault.

In early July, Hernandez was added to the U.S. Junior National Team. She then went to Chicago for the U.S. Classic, where she placed sixth all-around and won the floor exercise title. At the National Championships in August, she won the silver medal in the junior all-around competition with a total score of 116.650, behind Bailie Key. She also placed second on uneven bars and floor exercise, and tied for third on beam with Alexis Vasquez.

In September, Hernandez was selected to represent the U.S. at the Junior Japan International in Yokohama. She scored 56.750 to win the bronze medal in the all-around. She also took third on vault, fourth on floor exercise, and sixth on balance beam.^[10] Later in 2013, she competed at the International Junior Mexican Cup in Acapulco and helped the U.S. team—Hernandez, Key, Veronica Hults, and Emily Gaskins—win the gold medal. She also took second place in the all-around behind Key.

2014

In early 2014, Hernandez fractured her wrist when she slipped off the beam in a training session.^[11] She returned to competition soon after the injury but then suffered a torn patellar tendon and dislocated kneecap, resulting in six months out of gymnastics. She resumed training in the fall and attended the final U.S. training camp of the year in November.^[12]

2015

Hernandez was named to the U.S. team for the 2015 City of Jesolo Trophy, where she was crowned junior all-around champion with a score of 57.650, ahead of teammates Norah Flatley and Jazmyn Foberg.^[13] In the junior-division event finals, she earned additional gold medals on the uneven bars, with a score of 14.500, and the floor exercise, with a score of 14.650.^[14]

At the 2015 U.S. Classic in July, Hernandez won the junior all-around title with a score of 58.450, as well as winning vault (14.900) and uneven bars (15.000). She placed third on balance beam (14.200) and floor exercise (14.350, tied with Deanne Soza).^[15]

At the National Championships, she had a score of 57.900 on the first day of competition and 59.550 on the second day, winning the junior all-around title over defending champion Foberg. She also won the title on the uneven bars with a combined two-day score of 30.100, silver on the floor exercise, and bronze on balance beam and vault.^[16]

Hernandez was then selected to compete at the 2015 International Junior Japan Meet in Yokohama, where she won the all-around, floor exercise, and vault and earned silver medals on balance beam and uneven bars.

Senior career

Hernandez made her senior debut in 2016. In March, she competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy, earning the bronze medal in the all-around with a score of 58.550, behind two U.S. teammates, fellow first-year senior Ragan Smith and Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion. She also earned a silver medal on vault and a gold medal on balance beam, ahead of Smith and 2012 Olympian Aly Raisman.

In April, Hernandez competed at the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in Everett, Washington, along with Raisman, Smith, three-time world all-around champion Simone Biles, and 2015 World Championships team member Brenna Dowell. She contributed an all-around score of 59.800 toward the American team's first-place finish and placed third individually, behind Biles and Raisman, but did not earn the all-around bronze medal because of a rule limiting medals to two gymnasts per country. (Japan's Nagi Kajita took the bronze instead.) Hernandez also qualified to the balance beam finals, but USA Gymnastics announced that she and Biles would not compete in the event finals in order to rest them before the Olympics.^[17]

In June, Hernandez competed at the U.S. Classic^[18] on bars only, scoring 15.400.^[19] Later that month, she competed all four events at the National Championships. At the end of night one, she was tied for second place in the all-around with Raisman, behind Biles, with a score of 60.450. On night two, she scored 14.800 on vault, 15.150 on uneven bars, 15.300 on balance beam, and 14.800 on floor exercise. She finished the two-day competition in third all-around, behind Biles and Raisman. She placed third on uneven bars and balance beam, and tied for third on floor exercise with MyKayla Skinner.

At the Olympic Trials in early July, Hernandez placed second in the all-around, behind Biles. She was named to the Olympic team alongside Biles, Douglas, Raisman, and Madison Kocian.^[20]

2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics

On August 7, Hernandez competed in the Women's Qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics where the top 8 placing teams get to advance to the Team All Around Finals. Hernandez scored a 15.200 on the vault, a 15.366 on the balance beam, and a 14.800 on the floor exercise, qualifying to the balance beam event finals. Martha Karolyi decided not to put Hernandez onto the bars lineup in qualification due to Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian both being brought onto the team to maximize their score on bars and Aly Raisman having more consistent training sessions on bars. August 9 was the Team All Around Finals meaning each country had 3 girls compete on each event and all scores counted. The US team, known as the Final Five, won the gold medal in the Team All Around. On August 15 during Event Finals, Hernandez won a silver medal on the Balance Beam with a score of 15.333. She placed ahead of teammate Simone Biles, who placed 3rd with a score of 14.733 and behind Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands, who won gold. ^[21]

Professional

In 2014, Hernandez committed to the University of Florida to compete on the Florida Gators gymnastics program in the NCAA. However, she decided to forgo NCAA eligiblity and become a professional athlete on August 3, 2016, in the lead up to the Olympic Games.^[22]

Competitive history

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2012	American Classic (Junior)		8	10	8		6
	Secret U.S. Classic (Junior)		11	10	23	7	6
	Visa Championships (Junior)		21	19	19	21	17
2013	WOGA Classic (Junior)			4		4	9
	Parkettes Invitational
	American Classic (Junior)				7
	Secret U.S. Classic (Junior)		6	8	8	16
	P&G Championships (Junior)			5
	Japan Junior International					6	4
	Junior Mexican Cup
2015	City of Jesolo Trophy (Junior)
	Secret U.S. Classic (Junior)
	P&G Championships (Junior)
	Japan Junior International
2016	City of Jesolo Trophy
	Pacific Rim Championships
	Secret U.S. Classic				4
	P&G Championships
	Olympic Trials			4	7
	Olympic Games

Dancing with the Stars

Hernandez was revealed as one of the celebrities competing on season 23 of Dancing with the Stars on August 30, 2016. She was partnered with professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy.^[23] The couple won the Mirrorball Trophy on the episode that aired November 22, 2016.^[24] At 16, Hernandez is currently the show's youngest winner.^[25]

Week #	Dance / Song	Judges' scores				Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Hough	Tonioli
1	Cha-cha-cha / "American Girl"	8	8	7	8	Safe
2	Jive / "DuckTales"	8	8	8	8	Safe
3	Tango / "Into the Sunset"	7	8	8	8	Safe
4	Jazz / "The Way You Make Me Feel"	10	—	10	10	Safe
5	Paso Doble / " Rise"	8	—	9	8	No Elimination
6	Salsa / " Light It Up"	9	9^1	9	10	Safe
7	Quickstep / "One Fine Day" Team Freestyle / "Embrace"	8 8	8 9	9 9	9 9	Safe
8	Viennese Waltz / "Pure Imagination" Jive Dance Off / "The Purple People Eater"	10 Awarded	— 3	10 Extra	10 Points	Safe
9	Argentine Tango / "Cell Block Tango" Team-Up Dance (Contemporary) / "Bird Set Free"	10 10	10^2 10^2	10 10	10 10	Safe
10 Semifinals	Foxtrot / "Hollow" Trio Samba / "Magalenha"	10 10	— —	10 10	10 10	Safe
11 Finals	Paso Doble / "Wicked Ones" Freestyle / "Brand New" Argentine Tango & Foxtrot Fusion / "We Are the Ones"	9 10 10	10 10 10	9 10 10	10 10 10	Winner

¹ Score given by guest judge Pitbull.
² Score given by guest judge Idina Menzel.

In popular culture

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Dancing with the Stars	Herself	Contestant on Season 23
2017	Sesame Street	Herself	Cameo on Season 48 (1 episode)

Other television appearances

Hernandez has appeared on many talk shows: The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Entertainment Tonight, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Access Hollywood Live, Omg! Insider, Hollywood Today Live, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

On November 24, 2016, she appeared on the 90th anniversary of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. She was on the Spirit of America float.

See also

• List of Puerto Ricans

References

1. Fincher, Julia (2016-07-16). "Who is... Laurie Hernandez". Nbcolympics.com. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
2. "Laurie Hernandez". Retrieved August 12, 2016.
3. Rivera, Zayda (August 8, 2016). "In Olympic debut, Latina gymnast Laurie Hernandez becomes Team USA superstar". Retrieved August 12, 2016.
4. http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars/news/weekly-highlights/dwts-finale-2016-recap-laurie-hernandez-wins-the-mirrorball-trophy-112216
5. Epstein, Sue; and Mishkin, Kate. Dating Reed Lindsey "N.J. town celebrates its new Olympian, gymnast Laurie Hernandez", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, July 11, 2016. Accessed July 12, 2016. "OLD BRIDGE — Laurie Hernandez, who won a spot on the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team Sunday night, is the talk of her hometown."
6. "Laurie Hernández Is the Second Puerto Rican Gymnast to Represent Team USA at the Olympics". July 10, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
7. Lilley, Sandra (2016). "Young Latina Gymnast Laurie Hernandez Earns Spot on U.S. Olympic Team". NBC. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
8. Stacie Fletcher (2016). "Gymnast hopes to head to Rio: 'I don't fear the future anymore'". Cru. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
9. Tony Rossi (2016). "Gymnast Laurie Hernandez Wants God's Light to Shine Through Her". Patheos. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
10. "Lauren Hernandez". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
11. Laurie Hernandez Out with an Injury. Beam Dreams (January 31, 2014). Retrieved on 2016-08-09.
12. "Final national team camp for 2014 wraps up today". USA Gymnastics. November 25, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
13. Lauren (March 28, 2015). "2015 City of Jesolo Trophy Final Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
14. "Jesolo: Event Final Results". The Couch Gymnast. Bea Gheorghisor. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
15. "2015 Secret U.S. Classic Meet Results" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
16. Lauren (August 24, 2015). "2015 U.S. Championships Results". The Gymternet. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
17. Johnson, Rebecca (July 10, 2016). "Biles, Hernandez Not Participating In Pac Rims Event Finals". FloGymnastics. FloSports. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
18. Johnson, Rebecca (June 5, 2016). "Golden Senior Routines – 2016 Secret U.S. Classic". FloGymnastics. FloSports. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
19. "Secret U.S. Classic – Seniors". FloGymnastics. FloSports. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
20. Penny, Brandon (July 10, 2016). "Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman Lead Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team". Team USA. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
21. "2016 Rio Olympic Games Recap, Results & Photos". USA Gymnastics.
22. Hernandez opts to forego collegiate eligibility. usagym.org (August 2, 2016)
23. "'DWTS' 2016 Celebrity Cast Revealed: Ryan Lochte, Amber Rose, Rick Perry Among Star Lineup". Good Morning America: Yahoo. August 30, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
24. http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars/news/weekly-highlights/dwts-finale-2016-recap-laurie-hernandez-wins-the-mirrorball-trophy-112216
25. "Laurie Hernandez wins Dancing with the Stars, youngest champion ever". Sports Illustrated. November 22, 2016. Archived from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2016.

External links

• USA Gymnastics Profile