Laurie Hernandez was back at the Olympics this year, but not as a competitor. The Olympic gold medalist and member of the 2016 U.S. women’s gymnastics team, aka the ‘Final Five,’ was a commentator this year for NBC. This came four years after she was also a commentator for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
It is the latest foray into entertainment and media for Hernandez, who has also guest-starred along with fellow gymnastics Olympians Dominique Dawes and Gabby Douglas on The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder at Disney+.
“It is so exciting to be at an Olympic games and well, to not be competing tends to be bittersweet because there’s always going to be a piece of me that wants to be out there,” she told Blavity exclusively about the Paris Olympics. “But it’s exciting to be on the other side of the camera and to be able to share my gymnastics knowledge and to talk about what I know while also keeping things a little bit, I don’t want to say optimistic, but I also recognize the hardship and the struggle it takes for every single athlete to get here and to be here competing with such pressure on their shoulders. So I want to give them their flowers while also being critical and talking about what it takes to compete and to hit a good routine.”
Not only is she commentating for the Olympics, but Hernandez has partnered with Olay, as their Olay Cleansing Melts are Official Facial Cleanser of Team USA.
“I think the no retouching after a shoot is one of my favorite parts,” Hernandez said when asked about one of her favorite parts about the partnership. “I recognize that something really prevalent in social media is Photoshop and is retouching and is kind of producing this false image for those who are looking up to social media influencers and public figures. There’s a lot of comparison that can happen, especially with adolescents and with teenagers. So it’s making sure people know, Hey, this is just the human experience. This is what skin looks like, and to walk around with that confidence.
With their jobs at the 2024 Olympics now over, the “Golden Girls” are likely going to indulge in a lot of self-care– and they’re likely going to do some of the things that Hernandez highlighted about her self-care routine.
“A night of self-care for me…I’m not shy, but I’m really introverted,” she explained. So a night of self-care is just being in a room by myself or with people that are in my just close inner circle, eating a good meal, watching a good show, taking a really long shower, and then putting my phone down and going to sleep. I love that.”
