Laurie Hernandez

Through the Classic, she qualified to the National Championships in St. Louis, where she placed 21st after two days of competition.

Lauren Zoe Hernandez (born June 9, 2000) is an American retired artistic gymnast.

Hernandez's elite career started in 2012 at the U.S. Classic, where she placed 11th in the junior division.

Hernandez won 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.

Hernandez's first meet of the 2013 season was the WOGA Classic, won the silver medal in the all-around behind Meredith Sylvia.

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.

Following a national training camp, in July 2013 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.

In November, she competed at the International Junior Mexican Cup in Acapulco alongside Bailie Key, Veronica Hults, and Emily Gaskins, and they won the team gold medal.

Individually, Hernandez won the silver medal in the all-around behind Key.

In early 2014, Hernandez fractured her wrist when she slipped off the beam in a training session.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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 won silver medals on balance beam and uneven bars.

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.

During her debut year as a senior gymnast, she competed as a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team dubbed the "Final Five" at the 2016 Summer Olympics; Ultimately, the U.S. won gold in the team event.

In the individual events, Hernandez earned the silver medal on the balance beam.

Outside of gymnastics, Hernandez has appeared on season 23 of Dancing with the Stars in 2016, where she won the competition along with partner Val Chmerkovskiy.

Hernandez hosted the first season of American Ninja Warrior Junior as the on-course reporter and starred as Valeria in the Nickelodeon animated miniseries Middle School Moguls. She is the author of two books, I Got This: To Gold and Beyond, a New York Times Bestseller and She's Got This, a children's book.

Hernandez was born in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, the daughter of Wanda and Anthony Hernandez, both from Puerto Rico.

She was homeschooled through the Abeka Academy distance-learning program.

Hernandez made her senior debut in 2016 at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy, where the U.S. team won the gold medal.

She returned to training in late 2018 and expressed interest in making a comeback to earn a spot on the U.S. women's gymnastic team for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but she did not qualify for the Olympic Gymnastics Trials.

She has a sister, Jelysa, and a brother, Marcus, who graduated from Rutgers University-New Brunswick in 2018.

She is of Puerto Rican descent.

She has been dating fellow gymnast Charlotte Drury since December 2020.

Hernandez is currently attending New York University Tisch School of the Arts.