Top 50 Laurie Hernandez Quotes

Honestly, I don’t really know the rules of tango!

Of course I’m very sassy.

My athlete idol is Usain Bolt. He’s inhumanly fast!

When you’re a little kid, and you’re, like, thinking about the Olympics, and you just have this big expectation, it just lived up exactly to that.

On Sundays, I just love to go to church and then relax the whole day!

You’re supposed to go to prom during high school. I don’t go to high school. I homeschool.

The Olympics, as a little kid, it was such a big goal that I created for myself, and I was able to push through and make that happen.

The best part is when parents come up to me with their kids, and they say, ‘My daughter started gymnastics because of you.’

The first meal that I learned to make was scrambled eggs.

Having the opportunity to go to the U.S. Olympics was great because I was the first Latina in over 30 years to compete in gymnastics at the Olympics.

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.

I hope the Final Five has shown that everyone is capable of success if they work hard.

I love listening to music in general before I compete. It’s something that calms me down, and meditating and breathing before I get up there to calm all my nerves.

Even though I’m a gymnast, I’ve always loved dancing.

Every year, my mom makes sure I have my checkups and everything, which is probably a really good idea. She’s great with all that health stuff.

I love performing for the crowd. Maybe that’s what it is. I’m a crowd pleaser.

I never look at scores or anything.

I hope I can help inspire people to go for their dreams.

Being able to wear contacts, you don’t have to worry about your glasses falling off or how you look during your beam routine. As soon as they’re in, literally two minutes later, you forget that they’re on.

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.

People call me the human emoji because I think people recognize that if I’m ever thinking something or feeling a certain emotion, it goes straight to my face. So if I’m happy, you’ll know I’m happy, and if I’m mad, you’ll know I’m mad just by looking at me.

Coming into ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I thought it would be a lot easier.

My mother was in the Army Reserve for six years. She taught me the importance of following rules, finishing what I start, never giving up, leadership skills, teamwork, staying positive, motivated and how to pack the military way when I’m traveling!

Life has been a really big whirlwind, but it’s been a lot of fun. I travel so much, and I’m constantly doing things that I love, but it’s just me.

My first week at ‘DWTS’ was amazing! I definitely fangirled when I walked into the ballroom because I looked at all the judges and where they were sitting, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s the official judges’ table!’

When I perform and the crowd is cheering, there’s a ringing noise in my head. I’m just zoned in, and even though I know there are people watching me, all I hear is this ringing inside of me.

When I was a little kid, I don’t remember looking up and seeing so many Hispanic athletes out there.

I got a piece of a dead person’s ligament in my body.

Dancing is so much fun.

As an athlete, the most important thing is the protein that you eat and the things that you put into your body. Without that, it’s very hard to function throughout the day.

I would love to be an actress!

Basically, I was a little bit nervous before competing beam at the Olympics, and I had this nervous thing to just talk to myself, like ‘You can do it, you can do it.’ And right before I hopped up there, I said, ‘I got this.’

I tell everyone that I’m 5 feet-1 inch tall, but I think I’m technically 5 feet. My mom says she’s 4 feet 11 inches, and I’m barely taller than her.

My whole life revolved around gymnastics because I loved it so much. I home-schooled because of it; I changed my eating habits.

The big cheat meal will be a cookies and cream milkshake.

My greatest inspiration is my coach, Maggie Haney.

If you think too far ahead, then it’ll just stress you out.

The Olympics was really, really stressful because I had never done anything like it. At the same time, I was understanding something like that could never really happen again. I embraced it and took in everything.

I like history because you can’t really progress without knowing what comes before you, so I think it’s super fascinating.

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.

When you have family with you, it gives you extra energy.

I think I still like science and art better, but geometry is a big improvement over algebra.

A goal of making it to the Olympic Games has motivated me to work very hard in my sport.

Being able to do something that I love and be at such a high level of gymnastics is just amazing.

It’s really hard to be all serious in the tango and not break into laughter.

I’m glad to be partnered with Orgullosa because I feel that now that I’m able to win a gold medal at the Olympics, win a silver medal, I feel little girls will be able to look up to me, and Hispanics will kind of rise a little more.

I think it’s amazing that I can go out there and be myself, and the fact that I’m carrying Puerto Rico on my back a little bit is such an honor.

It’s weird to hear anyone call me a role model.

I feel I could be a role model to other Hispanic gymnasts interested in the sport, but I also want them to understand the importance of being focused, determined, and not giving up, despite all the struggles.

People have always asked me why my favorite event was floor, and my answer was always, ‘Because I love to dance!’