It was a small broadcasting moment, one you understandably may have missed, but it highlighted why Laurie Hernandez has been one of the broadcasting stars of the Paris Games. During NBC and Peacock’s live coverage of the women’s gymnastics team final at the Paris Olympics last Tuesday — the United States took gold thanks to vaults from Simone Biles and Jade Carey and a Michael Jordan-like closing routine by Biles on the floor exercise — Hernandez offered the many laypersons in the audience a lesson on how to become a smarter gymnastics viewer.

“You can always tell if a gymnast is nervous by the way her ankles shake while she is either walking or on her tippy toes,” Hernandez said.

It was fascinating insight and the kind of details Hernandez has provided throughout NBC’s live gymnastics coverage. Her ability to communicate the sport to a broad audience combined with genuine enthusiasm for the success of her former teammates (she and Biles won gold in the team competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics; Hernandez won an individual silver medal on the balance beam) has made for an exceptional viewing experience.

She and Rich Lerner, the Golf Channel anchor serving as a play-by-play voice for the live gymnastics coverage, figured out the chemistry part right from the jump. (NBC has a more well-known gymnastics crew handling what we see on the prime-time rebroadcast consisting of play-by-play broadcaster Terry Gannon, analysts Samantha Peszek, Tim Daggett and reporter Zora Stephenson.)

“Because she competed so recently, Laurie speaks as a contemporary of the gymnasts,” said Molly Solomon, the executive producer and president for NBC Olympics, in an email. “With her emotion so authentic and at times so raw, as she experiences the pressure now from a broadcaster’s perspective, viewers find her voice and her empathy for the tension of the moment refreshing.”

Hernandez continued her fine work on Saturday for the women’s vault competition. Following a vault from An Chang-ok of North Korea, Hernandez offered the following for viewers.

“If a gymnast looks like a letter L towards the end of it, that’s going to be a huge deduction,” she explained. “You want to look like a pencil or a straight line. Also, if the chest is parallel to the floor rather than being parallel or facing the vault table, then that’s another deduction.”

That’s excellent stuff. The Athletic connected with Hernandez in Paris over the weekend to discuss her broadcasting work.

It’s a significant challenge to translate the world of gymnastics to a mass audience. What’s your approach to explaining a sport that you know and love to people who don’t necessarily follow it every week?

There’s not necessarily a specific approach to it. I think the biggest thing is trying to bridge the gap between the massive gymnastics fans who know the code of points (the rulebook that defines the scoring system) honestly way better than I do versus those who are at home and know nothing about the sport but want to understand why someone might score so high or low.

My mom was always such a great parent in the sense that she knew nothing about gymnastics. I would try to explain things to her and it was in one ear and out the other because she was just so proud of me. I feel like maybe that explains some of it. I was always excitedly trying to explain to her what I was doing in a way that she could understand, knowing that she knew nothing. I wanted to spread that joy and share this experience with her.

Can you give us a sense of what are you specifically looking at when working on air as a gymnastics analyst?

Let’s go down the order for gymnastics. We’ll start with vault. For vault, we’re looking at height and distance. Simone Biles and (Brazil’s) Rebeca Andrade are the two that come to mind in terms of the best, and in terms of past Olympics, McKayla Maroney is someone whose name I hope is remembered forever.

She had the height and capability and a daring nature to try new things. So when we’re looking at height, it’s how high can they go? Are their arms straight on the table? You’re running full speed at a stationary object. It’s like if you throw a pencil at the wall and you’re able to hit it with the eraser side, it’s going to bounce. But if you throw cooked spaghetti at the wall, it’s just going to sink and kind of melt into the floor. So the tighter the gymnast is and the more kind of straight arms and open shoulder position we see on the table, the higher they’ll go. That’s why Simone is able to do what she can do is because she hits the table at such an angle that I wouldn’t even dare to try. Vault is about height and distance and landing deductions.

For the uneven bars, we are looking at handstands. That’s where gymnasts tend to get deducted the most. Toes have to be all the way up to the ceiling. We’re also looking for any release moves where a gymnast lets go and catches the bar. It could be the same bar, could be a different bar, they could turn mid-air. Then a fun thing is just checking to see if the bar bends when they swing beneath it. Some of the best bar workers, not only in the United States, but in the world, will actually use the equipment to their advantage. They’ll kind of relax their bodies underneath the bar and allow their full weight to just tug at it. It allows them to have toss skills even higher. It helps them do less work. That’s definitely a fun thing to look for.

For beam, it is minimal wobbles. If their ankles while they are on their tippy toes are shaking back and forth, that is a telltale sign for me. I could always gauge how nervous I was by the shakiness of my ankles. When you only have four inches to work with, you don’t have room. So obviously no falls or wobbles on beam. Then breathing is a big one. Some of the best beam workers will exhale when they land because that center of gravity will sink them into the equipment. A lot of times when people get nervous, they hold their breath. It may bring your center of gravity up towards your neck, but what you want is the opposite. You want to feel grounded. So an exhale will do that.

Then for the floor, it’s just watching for a lot of fun. Landing deductions is the biggest thing but if you see a gymnast out there who’s having an absolute blast, the odds of her getting an artistry deduction, which I call ghost deductions, places where you might not realize there’s a deduction, is small. Artistry is a big place where the judges tend to grab and pull. When you look at a team like Brazil, they’re such a joy to watch.

Where have you and Rich Lerner been located inside Bercy Arena during the competition?

We are on the complete opposite side of where the vault is. There is an entire section of the arena that’s just purely media and networks from different countries. We have a really good view of all four events. The (other NBC broadcasters) are near us but we don’t really get to interact with them since we’re calling it live. There are times where they’re also calling it live but then for prime time, there’s a lot of either recaps or reshoots or whatever that might be.

You received a lot of social media attention for your very natural reaction to seeing Seth Rogen in the crowd. What’s your reaction when something you say on a broadcast becomes a moment on social media?

It’s hours of live commentary, so thank God I said something that was at least funny or kindhearted. My goal is always to have an optimistic outlook because I recognize how hard this sport can be. But I’m also chronically online. I’m 24. I’m in college. I’m unfortunately on TikTok until my eyes get droopy. I’m trying to work on that.

But sometimes those natural instincts on air are just my natural instincts. Sometimes I feel a little embarrassed by it, but people seem to really enjoy it. At the end of the day, I want it to feel like I’m talking to a friend.

You are currently a student at NYU majoring in drama but a unique one in that you have a lot of television experience at the very young age of 24. (For example: Hernandez was champion from Season 23 of Dancing with the Stars.) How are you looking at gymnastics broadcasting long-term?

To be honest, I’m so in awe of even just being here. The imposter syndrome has kicked in tenfold in the sense of not having as much experience as those around me. Yet I am commentating about something that I find so important and near and dear to my heart. I would love to do more commentary work in the world of gymnastics because I love it so much.

My parents (knew) since I was a little kid that I wanted to do entertainment. I always loved acting in comedy and imitating people and putting on funny voices. I found so much joy in that and in getting them to laugh. I loved fiction as a kid and still love it to this day. I do a little bit of screenwriting and novel writing. So I’d definitely love to do some on camera acting work for film and TV. I’ve also always loved the world of animation whether it’s through motion capture for video games, or if it’s voice acting for animation. That that would be a dream.

I wonder if you could offer me a perspective as an Olympic gold medalist on why Simone Biles is the best of all time?

If you asked an Olympic gymnast why Simone is the best, we could give you all kinds of things. We could say she’s the most powerful gymnast. We could say it’s because she’s daring. We could name a list under the sun. But the fact of the matter is she’s not only physically aware of herself, but mentally present as she flips. She’s making split-second decisions in the air.

Every gymnast is striving for perfection. That’s the goal. That’s the dream. But no one’s ever perfect. For every single turn, there is usually something going wrong, and that’s what we plan for. But when she’s out there and she’s doing something like a triple-double on floor, that’s three twists and two backflips. If she takes off a certain way, she can be, “OK, I’m not rotating enough, I’m going to need to pull this way or rotate that way and up.”

It’s like having a multiple-choice question with a thousand different answers, and because she’s trained so hard, she just knows what answer in a split-second. She thinks it — and it’s done. I’m in awe of her quick thinking, and I’ll forever be in awe of it.

GO DEEPER

NBC’s Olympics coverage enjoying a viewership surge, though there’s a caveat

Advertisement

(Top photo of Laurie Hernandez in 2019: Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP)

The Paris Olympics are underway and several medals have already been doled out.

The United States led the way with 79 medals in total as of Monday. Team USA has 21 gold, 30 silver and 28 bronze medals.

Here are the Americans who won medals during the 2024 Olympics so far.

Gold

• Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel as part of the men’s swimming 4×100 freestyle relay team.
• Torri Huske in the women’s’ swimming 100-meter butterfly.
• Lee Kiefer in women’s fencing individual foil.
• Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Cary and Hezly Rivera as part of the women’s gymnastics team final.
• Katie Ledecky in the women’s swimming 1,500-meter freestyle.
• Nicholas Mead, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan in the men’s rowing four final.
• Simone Biles in the women’s gymnastics all-around final.
• Kate Douglass in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke.
• Women’s fencing team foil
• Vincent Hancock in men’s skeet shooting.
• Simone Biles in women’s gymnastics vault.
• Ryan Crouser in men’s shot put.
• Katie Ledecky in women’s swimming 800-meter freestyle.
• Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske in mixed swimming 4×100 medley relay.
• Scottie Scheffler in men’s golf.
• Kristen Faulkner in women’s cycling road race.
• Bobby Finke in men’s swimming 1,500-meter freestyle.
• Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske in women’s swimming.
• Noah Lyles in men’s 100-meter sprint.
• Valarie Allman in women’s discus.
• Caroline Marks in women’s surfing.

Silver

Silver medalist Jagger Eaton, left, and bronze medalist Nyjah Huston after the victory ceremony for the men’s street skateboarding event at La Concorde in Paris on July 29, 2024. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images)

• Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook in the women’s synchronized 3-meter springboard.
• Kate Douglass, Torri Huske, Gretchen Walsh and Simone Manuel as part of the women’s swimming 4×100 freestyle relay team.
• Haley Batten in women’s cross-country mountain biking.
• Gretchen Walsh in women’s swimming 100-meter butterfly.
• Nic Fink in men’s swimming 100-meter breaststroke.
• Jagger Eaton in men’s street skateboarding.
• Katie Grimes in women’s swimming 400-meter individual medley.
• Lauren Scruggs in women’s fencing individual foil.
• Regan Smith in women’s swimming 100-meter backstroke.
• Bobby Finke in men’s swimming 800-meter freestyle.
• Chris Giuliano, Drew Kibler, Luke Hobson and Carson Foster in the men’s swimming 4×200 freestyle relay.
• Perris Benegas in women’s BMX cycling freestyle.
• Torri Huske in women’s swimming 100-meter freestyle.
• Regan Smith in women’s swimming 200-meter butterfly.
• Katie Ledecky, Claire Weinstein, Paige Madden and Erin Gemmell in women’s swimming 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
• Sagen Maddalena in women’s 50-meter shooting rifle three positions.
• Laura Kraut, Karl Cook and McLain Ward in equestrian jumping team final.
• Regan Smith in women’s swimming 200-meter backstroke.
• Austin Kraijceck and Rajeev Ram in men’s tennis doubles.
• Connor Prince in men’s skeet shooting.
• Joe Kovacs in men’s shot put.
• Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon and Kaylyn Brown in mixed athletics 4×400-meter relay.
• Kate Douglass in women’s swimming 200-meter medley.
• Sha’Carri Richardson in women’s athletics 100-meter race.
• Brady Ellison in men’s archery.
• Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Caeleb Dressel and Hunter Armstrong in men’s swimming 4×100-meter medley final.
• Seth Rider, Taylor Spivey, Morgan Peterson and Taylor Spivey in mixed relay triathlon.
• Simone Biles in women’s gymnastics floor exercise.
• Austen Jewell Smith and Vincent Hancock in mixed team skeet shooting.
• Sam Kendricks in men’s pole vault.

Bronze

Bronze medalist Katie Ledecky poses with her medal in the women’s 400m freestyle final at Paris La Defense Arena on July 27, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

• Chloe Dygert in women’s road cycling individual time trial.
• Katie Ledecky in women’s swimming 400-meter freestyle.
• Carson Foster in men’s swimming 400-meter individual medley.
• Nyjah Huston in men’s street skateboarding.
• Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik and Frederick Richard as part of the men’s gymnastics team final.
• Emma Weyant in women’s swimming 400-meter individual medley.
• Luke Hobson in men’s swimming 200-meter freestyle.
• Ryan Murphy in men’s swimming 100-meter backstroke.
• Nick Itkin in men’s fencing individual foil.
• Lauren Doyle, Naya Tapper, Alena Olsen, Alev Kelter, Spiff Sedrick, Ariana Ramsey, Ilona Maher, Kayla Canett, Kristi Krishe, Sammy Sullivan, Sarah Levy, Steph Rovetti, Kris Thomas and Nicole Heavirland as part of the women’s rugby sevens team.
• Katharine Berkoff in women’s swimming 100-meter backstroke.
• Evy Leibfarth in women’s canoe slalom.
• Suni Lee in women’s gymnastics all-around final.
• Ian Barrows and Hans Henken in men’s skiff sailing.
• Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison in mixed team archery.
• Grant Fisher in men’s 10,000 meter track.
• Henry Hollingsworth, Nick Rusher, Christian Tabash, Clark Dean, Chris Carlson, Peter Chatain, Evan Olson, Pieter Quinton and Reilly Milne in men’s rowing eight final.
• Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in men’s tennis doubles.
• Jade Carey in women’s gymnastics women’s vault final.
• Stephen Nedoroscik in men’s gymnastics pommel horse.
• Melissa Jefferson in women’s athletics 100-meter race.
• Paige Madden in women’s swimming 800-meter freestyle.
• Jasmine Moore in women’s triple jump.
• Suni Lee in women’s gymnastics uneven bars.
• Austen Jewell Smith in women’s skeet shooting.
• Fred Kerley in men’s 100-meter sprint.
• Jordan Chiles in women’s gymnastics floor exercise.
• Hailey Van Lith, Dearica Hamby, Rhyne Howard and Cierra Burdick in women’s 3×3 basketball.

A crowd of 48,178 in Dodger Stadium rose to its feet as Freddie Freeman came to the plate in the first inning Monday night, the rousing ovation marking the return of the veteran first baseman from an eight-game absence while his 3-year-old son, Maximus, battled a rare neurological disorder that temporarily paralyzed the toddler.

Freeman had already fought back tears during a 30-minute pregame news conference in which he recounted Max’s harrowing ordeal, which included eight straight days in a pediatric intensive care unit, and now he could feel the emotions welling up in his chest again as the crowd showered him with admiration.

Freeman doffed his batting helmet and tapped his heart in appreciation of the 45-second ovation, and he thought he would be able to hold it together … until he saw his father, Fred, and his stepmother, Alma, in the first row behind the backstop.

“My Dad was—I don’t know if I could call it crying, but he was choked up and teary-eyed—and that’s what really got me going,” Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

“It made it really hard to hit in that first at-bat, but that’s a good thing. I was OK with that. It was one of the most pleasant strikeouts I’ve had in my big-league career.”

Freeman, who had one single and two strikeouts in four at-bats, didn’t play a huge role in his team’s victory over the National League East-leading Phillies, one that pushed the Dodgers’ NL-West lead over Arizona and San Diego to five games.

The heavy lifting was done by starter Tyler Glasnow, who gave up three runs and five hits in six innings, striking out nine and walking none, to improve to 9-6 with a 3.54 ERA; relievers Michael Kopech, Anthony Banda and Daniel Hudson, who each threw scoreless innings, and Teoscar Hernández and Shohei Ohtani, who each hit home runs.

But by the end of the night in which his teammates wore #MaxStrong T-shirts during batting practice, he got a hug from Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper after his third-inning single and a post-game text from his wife, Chelsea, “that was positive,” for a change, the eight-time All-Star was exhausted.

“I’m kind of glad it’s over, to be honest,” Freeman, 34, said. “I’m tired and worn out. I’ve been talking all day. Everyone’s asking questions. It’s just an emotional day, but when you win the game … I was happy to be out there. I really was.

“I didn’t know what I was going to be feeling, but it’s just … the green grass, the dirt, the fans. It just reminds me how beautiful this game is and why I love it so much. Obviously, the 50,000 people that were here made it that much better.

“These three years I’ve been here, it’s hard to put into words what the Dodgers fans have meant to us and our family. In the toughest times, it shows the true character of this organization’s fans, and it’s absolutely incredible.”

Max came home from Children’s Hospital of Orange County on Saturday after responding favorably to treatments for Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. Freeman was buoyed by the knowledge that Max was home watching Daddy on television Monday night.

“To be honest, it was OK during this game,” Freeman said, when asked if his mind had wandered throughout the evening. “I think it’s more because I know Max is at home, and he’s OK. … We’ve been told [Max] is going to make a full recovery. We just don’t know how long it’s going to be. But the prognosis of recovery is good.”

The Dodgers bullpen also appeared to be on the mend with its third straight clean sheet Monday night. A relief core that has taken its share of beatings in recent weeks has delivered 10 ⅓ scoreless innings over the last three games.

“Things with the bullpen always get more magnified when things aren’t going well,” manager Dave Roberts said, “but for those guys to be resilient and to keep leaning on one another and being ready when called upon, it’s been invaluable.”

Summoned to protect a 4-3 lead Monday night, Kopech, the newly acquired right-hander, gave up a single in a scoreless seventh and has now retired nine of the 10 batters he has faced as a Dodger, five by strikeout.

With the top of the Phillies order—which features left-handed-hitting sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Harper—due up in the eighth, Roberts summoned Banda, the left-hander who earned the opportunity to pitch in higher leverage with a 2.16 ERA in 31 games.

Banda jumped ahead of Schwarber with two strikes before throwing four straight balls for a leadoff walk. Trea Turner flied out to center field, and Banda struck out Harper swinging at a 97-mph sinker for the second out.

Right-hander Evan Phillips was warming, but Roberts left Banda in to face the right-handed-hitting Alec Bohm, who slapped a single to right to put two on.

Up stepped the left-handed-hitting Brandon Marsh, who got himself into a 3-and-1 count, only to have a 96-mph fastball well above the zone called for a strike by umpire Marvin Hudson. Marsh then swung through an 86-mph slider for an inning-ending strikeout.

“I didn’t see it,” Roberts said of the 3-and-1 pitch to Marsh, “but I liked the call.”

Why did Roberts stick with Banda against Bohm, the cleanup batter who has 12 homers and 77 RBIs this season?

“It was more of Anthony is a guy that typically keeps the ball on the ground,” Roberts said. “I felt that I wanted him to get to Marsh, and if they wanted to make a move [to hit for Marsh] we had Evan there to counter. It would’ve been a little bit tougher of a decision if Bohm would’ve hit a double.”

Ohtani provided an insurance run for a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth with his NL-leading 34th homer, a towering 384-foot shot to left-center field that didn’t clear the glove of Marsh until Ohtani was halfway to second base.

Thinking he might have missed first base, Ohtani retreated to the bag and touched it before continuing his home-run trot. Hudson gave up a leadoff single in the ninth before retiring three straight batters for his eighth save.

The Dodgers scored four runs in the third off Phillies right-hander Austin Nola, a rally that started with back-to-back doubles by Jason Heyward and Andy Pages. Ohtani hit a sacrifice fly, and Hernanez hit his 24th homer, a two-run shot that left his bat at 113 mph and traveled 390 feet to left field.

Short hops

Reliever Brusdar Graterol, a hard-throwing right-hander who has been out all season because of a shoulder injury, was activated from the 60-day injured list before Monday night’s game, and right-hander Blake Treinen was placed on the IL because of left-hip discomfort. … Shortstop Miguel Rojas, out since July 22 because of right-forearm tightness, will be activated “in the next couple of days,” Roberts said. … Walker Buehler, whose return from a second Tommy John surgery was interrupted by a right hip injury, threw a bullpen session on Monday and is scheduled to resume his rehab assignment with triple-A Oklahoma City on Thursday. … Utility man Cavan Biggio, who hit .192 with three homers and 10 RBIs in 30 games for the Dodgers, was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for Freeman.