Laurie Hernandez is an American dancer and gymnast, who earned her fame by participating in the famous American dance competition “Dance with Stars.” This talented girl turned her love for dance into a profession, and since 2014 she is a member of the American national team. She represented her country at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Her greatest success was at these Olympic Games, as she won a gold medal with her team at that time. Laurie was a great surprise for the whole team, for the first time she participated in this competition, but she showed great results.
In addition to dance and gymnastics, Laurie is a great fan of reading and writing books. After a great success she had experienced at the Olympic Games, Laurie wanted to share her story with other people. She wanted to share her love and passion for this sport, but also to encourage other people that dreams can be realized, if you believe in them. For this reason Laurie published her first book ‘I Got This: To Gold and Beyond’ in 2016.
In this book, Laurie spoke of her greatest success in life, but also about the effort she made and the many victims she had to handle. At only 16 years old, Laurie began to realize her dreams, the biggest change in her life occurred when she participated in the Olympics. Although her life looks like a fairy tale, Laurie described her reality, and explained how much effort she had to make to succeed.
In this text we will talk about a talented, young and successful girl, who proved that dreams can be realized if you believe in them, but also if you are willing to give up and sacrifice in order to succeed.
Laurie has proven that years are not an obstacle, it is important to believe in what you are doing and to be sure that you will succeed. In addition to her excellent career Laurie is a very positive person, in this text we are talking about her childhood, growing up and her private life.
Early life
Laurie Hernandez was born in Old Bridge, New Jersey, and as a little girl she had to take care of herself and her younger sisters. She did not have childhood like other children, she started to work early and worry about problems as well as adults. Her parents were not ready to support her, and they were not with her when she needed them the most.
Laurie describes her relationship with her parents as very complicated, but she hopes that one day she will be able to understand her parents and forgive them for many things. In her first book, Laurie spoke about her relationship with her mother, and explained that she had always wanted her mother to care for her, to support her and have trust in her.
Nevertheless, her mother was a different person, she gave birth to Laurie with only 17 years and she was not ready to be a good parent.
She had a very bad lifestyle, she consumed alcohol every day, and sometimes she would come home drunk. Laurie believed that her mother was dissatisfied with her life, as a girl she had big dreams, she wanted to become a successful athlete, and when Laurie was born, her mother had no choice but to take care of her.
Although her relationship with her mother was complicated and sometimes unexplainable, she had the greatest influence in her life. Laurie says she is pretty much like her mother, and sometimes she feared that she will become like her mother.
She wanted to give evidence to her mother that dreams are possible only if you really want something and if you are ready to dedicate yourself to your goal maximally.
Laurie was ready to sacrifice herself and try to be different from her parents. Because of this, she was ready to work hard, and to maximize her dedication to her goals.
Laurie began to show her talent very early, but she was very interested in basketball and football, she dreamed that one day she would became successful basketball player. Still, life had a different plans for her.
When she was 10 years old, her mother decided that her daughters should start going to dancing classes. Yet none of them showed talent for sport and dance like Laurie.
At the very beginning, she did not want to be a dancer and she did not like dancing, but eventually her love for dance began. When she was 12 years old, the dance replaced her love for basketball. It helped her feel feminine and show her emotions and feelings.
Dance helped her to free her emotions and become a different person, but Laurie had many prejudices that came from the environment. Laurie was very religious, she believed in God and went to church regularly. The society condemned Laurie, and many felt that her love for dance could not be associated with love for God.
Laurie, however, decided to believe in her talent, to develop it and to dedicate maximally. In addition to dance, Laurie was a very successful gymnast, and her love for dance was associated with love for gymnastics.
Laurie decided to combine these two hobbies, and independently began to perform numerous moves. Her friends and professors were positively surprised and believed that Laurie could become a successful athlete.
Career
Laurie started her career with a competition held in 2012, she was only 12 at the time, and she won 21st place at the state gymnastics competition. After this competition, her results were getting better and better and Laurie managed to represent the Junior Team in 2014. With the state team, Laurie won numerous awards and became one of the best gymnastics.
Nevertheless, at the end of 2014, during the competition, she had a hand injury, after this injury she became much more cautious and did not want to participate in all state competitions in order to recover completely.
Her results were getting better and better, Laurie spent a lot of time practicing, she wanted to become one of the most successful gymnasts, and proudly present her country.
The biggest change in her life took place in 2016, when she was invited to participate in the most prestigious competition in the world, the Olympic Games. Laurie admitted that she secretly wanted to participate in this competition, but she never believed she would receive such a call so quickly.
The public had a shared reaction to her participation in the Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro. Many thought this was a great chance for this girl to show her talent and to present her country in the best way, while others believed Laurie was very young, inexperienced and not ready for such a competition.
Laurie admitted that she was overthinking about participating in the competition, she was aware that if she accepted this invitation, she would bear great responsibility, but on the other hand she was not sure if she was ready for such a big challenge.
Together with her team, Laurie won gold at the Olympic Games, and won silver in the independent category. This award presented the greatest recognition in her life, with only 16 years Laurie Hernandez participated and won gold at the world’s largest competition. With this act she proved her quality, talent, and perseverance and hard work.
Personal life
Laurie continues to attend High school, participates in numerous competitions and improves her talents every day. She is active on social networks, throwing out pictures of her private life on a daily basis.
Interestingly, in 2016 Laurie won the first place in the “Dancing with Stars” competition, and became the youngest winner in the history of this competition.
Quick Summary
Full name: Lauren Zoe Hernandez
Nickname: Laurie
Date of birth: June 9th 2000
Age: 19
Birthplace: Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, United States of America
Profession/Occupation: Artistic gymnast
Net worth: NI
Height: 5 feet 3 inch
Weight: 51 kg
