A biography for Laurie Hernandezhasn’t been written yet.
“I got a piece of a dead person's ligament in my body.”
“My mom decided that she wanted to put the mirror ball trophy on the coffee table in the center of our living room. When people walk in, it's kind of like, 'Uh.' It's a little weird. Maybe we should put it in the corner or something.”
“Usually, before I salute the judge, I'm able to just grab the event, and I pray on it, and that really grounds me. For some reason, once I do that, I am able to think clearly, and I'm able to calm down right before I compete.”
“When I'm not training, I'm typically doing anything self-care, so, like, bath bombs and face masks, or, like, having a movie night with my family, if that's possible.”
“I was an energetic child, always walking on my hands, flipping off of the back of the couch, or jumping up and down on my bed.”
“Now that I'm doing all these big competitions, I've learned to control my nerves and control my mindset, and I think that's where the maturity comes in.”
“My athlete idol is Usain Bolt. He's inhumanly fast!”
“My greatest inspiration is my coach, Maggie Haney.”
“I love my height because when I'm doing gymnastics, it really benefits the sport - and also, I think being short is kind of cute.”
“My family has always been very close. Ever since I was a kid, everybody was always together, including my grandma. In the mornings, my mom would work, and my grandma would help me get ready and would walk me to school. We were all so close to her.”
“My whole life revolved around gymnastics because I loved it so much. I home-schooled because of it; I changed my eating habits.”
“It's weird to hear anyone call me a role model.”
“I hope the Final Five has shown that everyone is capable of success if they work hard.”
“When you're a little girl, and you're watching the Olympics, and you see this very diverse group of gymnasts out there, and - I think this team, the Final 5, will inspire so many little girls to go out there and do what they love.”
“If you think too far ahead, then it'll just stress you out.”
“The thing that makes me feel the most confident is definitely my smile. I like that my smile and my facial expressions really show what I'm feeling, and my smile is the best way to show that I'm happy.”
“We're all different, so even though someone is getting a skill before you, it doesn't mean that you're not good enough; it just means you have to wait a little bit, and the skill will come when it comes.”
“My parents have tried not to intrude. They kind of stayed apart from my gymnastics but are very supportive, and that's very helpful as a gymnast to not have your parents say, 'Did you do this today?' and just be very on top of you.”
“People would be surprised to know I had a flip phone until 2015.”
“I don't see it as pressure at all. I see it as such an honor to just in some sort of way represent Puerto Rico and Hispanics and all the girls out there.”