Breaking:Laurie Hernandez Sends Direct Message to Simone Biles Amid Olympics Return

Laurie Hernandez was a member of the 2016 USA women’s gymnastics team dubbed the “Final Five,” meaning she competed alongside the GOAT herself, Simone Biles. The team won gold back at the 2016 Rio Olympics when Hernandez was 16 and Biles was 19. Now at 24 and 27 years old, respectively, Hernandez is retired from the sport and working as a gymnastics commentator for NBC, while Biles is giving it another go for gold.

“It is so exciting to see someone like Simone get out there and to be one of the athletes that is a bit older,” Hernandez exclusively tells Parade.

“Gymnastics, typically, is coined for having such a short lifespan,” she continues, sharing the pride she has and wants to send Biles. “So to see someone like her go out there and be the best not only in Team USA, but in the world at the Olympic Games, the biggest stage in the world, it definitely shows that not only is age not necessarily a number, but that training smarter and not harder is definitely the way to go.”

“It’s more sustainable and it also allows for more mental maturity,” the 24-year-old retiree says. “It’s like if you can sustain yourself long enough and your your brain is actually getting a little bit older, you gain that kind of common sense and we’re going to see some really incredible gymnastics to come.”

Biles made a triumphant return to the 2024 Paris Olympics after suffering from the “twisties,” a dangerous condition in which gymnasts lose their sense of their body’s positioning while they’re in the air. The twisties impacted Simone so negatively at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that she had to pull out of the competition.

Will Hernandez pull a Biles and find herself competing as a gymnast once again? Not likely, it seems. “I mean, never say never. But you know, currently on my little desk, the title of ‘retired’ is carved into a wood plaque. So we could un-carve it. We could! But I don’t know,” Hernandez jokes.

Post-Olympic Self-Care
Since retiring from gymnastics in 2021, Hernandez has had to shift the way she cares for her body. “I think I spend a lot more time getting ready in the mornings. I used to kind of set my alarm roll out of bed,” she remembers. “When I was little, I would homeschool for gymnastics, and I actually remember there were a couple of times where I slept in my leotard because I didn’t want to get ready in the morning!”

Now, times have changed for her. “I’ll set out an extra hour just so that way I can slowly rise out of my slumber and skincare has definitely played a huge part in that. I also know, like, I didn’t exactly know how to take care of my skin as a teenager and going through puberty and being in such a high stress environment.”

Gymnastics wasn’t easy on Hernandez’s skin. Not only was she dealing with the challenges of puberty and stress, but also sweat and chalk getting into her pores while she practiced and competed. “All of these factors that would kind of change, you know, my confidence levels about how I looked,” she shares.