Sports

Laurie Hernandez is NBC's breakout broadcasting star of the Paris Olympics

Published

2 years ago

August 6, 2024

Laurie Hernandez is NBC's breakout broadcasting star of the Paris Olympics

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.

“For the floor … if you see a gymnast out there who’s having an absolute blast, the odds of her getting an artistry deduction,” Laurie Hernandez says. (Jean Catuffe / Getty Images)

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

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

Sports

Eileen Gu reflects on decision to leave Team USA for China: ‘A lot of people just don’t understand’

Published

7 hours ago

March 3, 2026

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Eileen Gu reflects on decision to leave Team USA for China: ‘A lot of people just don’t understand’

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Eileen Gu released a statement on social media Monday, reflecting on her controversial decision to compete for Team China despite being born and raised in the U.S.

Gu’s statement tied the decision back to her passion for promoting women’s sports, and encouraging young girls to pursue sports.

“I gave my first speech on women in sports and title IX when I was 11 years old. I talked about being the only girl on my ski team, and, despite attending an all-girls’ school from Monday through Friday, becoming best friends with my teammates on the weekends through the common language of sport,” Gu wrote on Instagram.

Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China poses for photos after the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images) (Wang Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images)

“At the same time, I was made painfully aware of the lack of representation – at age 9, I felt that I was somehow representing all women every time I stepped in the terrain park. Landing tricks was about more than progression … it was about disproving the derisive implication of what it meant to ‘ski like a girl.’”

Gu went on to express gratitude for the one season in which she did compete for the U.S.

“When I was 15, I announced my decision to compete for China. At the time, I had spent one season on the US team, and had been lucky enough to meet my heroes in person. I am forever grateful for that season, and continue to maintain a close relationship with the team. I had spent every summer in China since I was 8 setting up summer camps on trampoline and dry slope for kids and adults, ranging from 7 to 47 years old, so I knew the industry was tiny. I felt like I knew everyone,” she added.

“Skiing for Team China meant the opportunity to uplift others through the universal culture of sport, and to introduce freeskiing to hundreds of millions of people who had never heard of it, especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics around the corner.”

Gu’s statement concluded by acknowledging that certain people “don’t understand” her decision to compete for China over the U.S., while insisting the choice maximized the impact she would have.

“I can look back now, at 22, and tell 12 year old Eileen that there are now terrain parks full of little girls, who will never doubt their place in the sport. I can tell 15 year old me that there are now millions of girls who have started skiing since then, in China and worldwide,” Gu wrote.

“A lot of people won’t understand or believe that I made a decision to create the greatest amount of positive impact on the world stage that I could, at this age, given my interests and passions. Three golds and six medals later, I can confidently say was once a dream is now a reality.”

Gu has become a target for global criticism this Olympics for her decision to represent China while remaining silent on the country’s alleged human rights abuses.

In an interview with Time magazine, Gu was asked her thoughts on China’s alleged persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

“I haven’t done the research. I don’t think it’s my business. I’m not going to make big claims on my social media,” Gu answered.

“I’m just more of a skeptic when it comes to data in general. … So, it’s not like I can read an article and be like, ‘Oh, well, this must be the truth.’ I need to have a ton of evidence. I need to maybe go to the place, maybe talk to 10 primary source people who are in a location and have experienced life there.

“Then I need to go see images. I need to listen to recordings. I need to think about how history affects it. Then I need to read books on how politics affects it. This is a lifelong search. It’s irresponsible to ask me to be the mouthpiece for any agenda.”

More controversy surrounding Gu erupted after The Wall Street Journal reported that Gu and another American-born athlete who now competes for China, were paid a combined $6.6 million by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in 2025.

Gu is the highest-paid Winter Olympics athlete in the world, making an estimated $23 million in 2025 alone due to partnerships with Chinese companies, including the Bank of China and western companies.

Her alignment with China prompted criticism from many Americans this Olympics, including Vice President J.D. Vance.

“I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this country a great place, I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”

Later, when Gu was asked if she feels “like a bit of a punching bag for a certain strand of American politics at the moment,” she said she does.

“I do,” she said. “So many athletes compete for a different country. … People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China. So, it’s not really about what they think it’s about.

“And, also, because I win. Like, if I wasn’t doing well, I think that they probably wouldn’t care as much, and that’s OK for me. People are entitled to their opinions.”

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Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China attends the awarding ceremony of the freestyle skiing women’s freeski big air event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Hongxiang/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Gu has claimed she was “physically assaulted” for the decision.

“The police were called. I’ve had death threats. I’ve had my dorm robbed,” Gu told The Athletic.

“I’ve gone through some things as a 22-year-old that I really think no one should ever have to endure, ever.”

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.

Sports

Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Evans, Carl Lewis new members of California’s Hall of Fame

Published

8 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Evans, Carl Lewis new members of California’s Hall of Fame

From Hollywood actors to Olympic athletes and politicians, California’s newest Hall of Fame class runs the gamut in talent and achievements.

Academy Award-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis and former governor/action star Arnold Schwarzenegger, Olympic champions Janet Evans and Carl Lewis, authors Riane Eisler and Terry McMillan, chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, groundbreaking ensemble Mariachi Reyne de Los Ángeles and former state Democratic leader John L. Burton all earned a spot into the assembly of distinct Californians, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.

This class, the 19th in state history, will be formally enshrined during a ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento on March 19 as a “celebration of their contributions to civic life, creativity, and social progress,” according to Newsom’s office.

The inductees “have reshaped our culture and our communities. Resilient and innovative, these leaders and luminaries represent the best of the California spirit,” Newsom said in a statement.

To be inducted, candidates must have lived in California for at least five years and “have made achievements benefiting the state, nation and world,” according to the California Hall of Fame website. To date, 166 Californians have been selected by three governors since 2006.

Schwarzenegger, 78, served as the state’s 38th governor and last Republican head of state from 2003 to 2011. His renaissance man biography includes a career as a body builder, highlighted by his Mr. Universe titles, action film success, political stardom and even tabloid-fodder infidelity.

Curtis, 67, a Santa Monica native, is among Hollywood’s elite and teamed with Schwarzenegger in the action blockbuster “True Lies” in 1994. Her acting career dates to 1977, and she earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 2023 for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Evans, 54, is a four-time Olympic gold medal swimmer and Fullerton native who attended Placentia El Dorado High School, Stanford University and USC. She serves as chief athletic officer for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Lewis, 64, is considered by many one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. The track star won 10 medals, nine of them gold, in four Olympics.

Eisler, 88, and McMillan, 74, added multiple bestsellers to this Hall of Fame class.

Eisler’s critically acclaimed “The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future” examines roughly 20,000 years of partnership between men and women and male domination over the last 5,000 years. The futurist, cultural historian and Holocaust survivor who has degrees in sociology and law from UCLA said she was informed of the honor last year by Jennifer Siebel Newsom and recently was honored by the Austrian government with its Cross of Honour for Science and Art, First Class.

“I am very honored at this time in my life to be inducted into the California Hall of Fame,” Eisler wrote in an email. “I have worked tirelessly to help create a better world, and firmly believe that a new paradigm, a new way of looking at our world and our place in it, is crucial.”

McMillan has written a series of smash hits, including a couple that became major studio films in the ‘90s, “Waiting to Exhale” and “How Stella Got her Groove Back,” centered on Black women’s voices.

Matsuhisa, 76, know for his iconic Japanese restaurant Nobu, which has six locations in California, owns businesses across five continents.

Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles, founded in South El Monte, rewrote the rules of music, becoming the first all-woman mariachi ensemble that has entertained for more than three decades.

Burton, the former chair of the California Democratic Party who died last year at 92, boasted a political career that included time in the California State Assembly and Senate and the U.S. House.

“This year’s class embodies the very best of California — creativity, resilience and a spirit of community,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement. “These honorees remind us that innovation and courage flourish when people are lifted up by those around them.”

Sports

Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime

Published

19 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime

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Ali Haji-Sheikh and Shar Pourdanesh share the fact they are retired NFL players living beyond the glow of the NFL spotlight. But they also share another distinction tying them to current events: They are part of the Iranian diaspora hoping for the downfall of the Islamic revolution.

They make up part of a small group of men who played in the NFL – along with David Bakhtiari, his brother Eric Bakhtiari and T.J. Housmandzadeh – who are decedents of Iranians.

Washington Redskins kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) talks to reporters at Jack Murphy Stadium during media day prior to Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos. San Diego, California, on Jan. 26, 1988.(Darr Beiser/USA TODAY Sports)

Haji-Sheikh: Self-Determination For Iranians

Haji-Sheikh, 65, played in the 1980s for the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. He was a first-team All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl and was on the NFL All-Rookie team in 1983 for the Giants and, in his final season, won a Super Bowl XXII ring playing for the Washington Redskins and kicking six extra points in a 42-10 blowout of the Denver Broncos.

Now, Haji-Sheikh is the general manager at a Michigan Porsche-Audi dealership and is like the rest of us: Keeping up with world events when time permits.

Except the war the United States is currently waging against the Islamic Republic of Iran is kind of different because Haji-Sheikh’s dad emigrated from Iran to the United States in the 1950s and built a life here.

And his son would like to see freedom come to a country he’s never visited but has a kinship to.

“It’s a world event,” Haji-Sheikh said on Monday. “I am not a big fan of the Islamic revolution because I am not Islamic. I would like to see the people of Iran be able to determine their own future rather than it be determined by a few people. It would be nice to see them having a stable government where the people can actually decide how they want it to go.

Green Bay Packers kicker Al Del Greco (10) talks with New York Giants kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) on Sept. 15, 1985, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Giants 23-20.

Iranians Celebrating And Americans Protesting

Haji-Sheikh hasn’t taken to the streets of his native Michigan to celebrate a liberation that hasn’t fully manifested mere days after the American and Israeli bombing and elimination of the Ayatollah.

“I’m so far removed from that,” Haji-Sheikh said. “My mom is from Michigan and of Eastern European background. My dad is from Iran. But it’s like, he hasn’t been back since I was in eighth grade, so that’s a long time ago. That was when the Shah was still in power, mid-70s, ‘74 or ’75, because if he ever went back after that he never would have left. They would have held him, so there was no intention of going back.

“But if things change he might want to go, you never know.”

Despite being removed from any activism about what is happening in Iran Haji-Sheikh is an astute observer.

“My favorite thing I’m seeing right now on TV is the Iranians in America celebrating because there’s a chance, a glimpse, maybe a hope for freedom,” Haji-Sheikh said. “And you have these people in New York protesting. What are you protesting?”

Pourdanesh Thanks America, Israel

Pourdanesh retired from the NFL in 2000 after a seven-year career with the Redskins and Steelers. The six-foot-six and 312-pound offensive tackle was born in Tehran. He proudly tells people he was the NFL’s first Iranian-born player.

Pourdanesh is much more visible and open about his feelings about his country than others. And, bottom line, he loves that President Donald Trump is bombing the Islamic regime.

“This is a great day for all Iranians across the world,” Pourdanesh posted on his Instagram account on Saturday when the war began. “Thank you, President Trump, thank you to the nation of Israel. Thank you for everybody that has been standing up for my people, my brothers and sisters in Iran across the world. This is a great day.

“The infamous dictator is dead – the one person who has contributed to deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians and other people around the world, if not more. So, congratulations to my Iranian brothers and sisters. Now, go and take back the country.”

This message was not a one-off. Pourdanesh has been posting about what has been happening in Iran since January, when people in Iran took to the streets demanding liberty and the government’s thugs began killing them, with some estimates rising to 36,500 deaths.

Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh (68) of the Pittsburgh Steelers blocks against defensive lineman Jevon Kearse (90) of the Tennessee Titans during a game at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 24, 2000, in Pittsburgh. The Titans defeated the Steelers 23-20. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

‘Islam Does Not Represent The Iranian People’

“[The] Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people,” Pourdanesh said in another post. “Islam does not represent the Iranian people. For almost 50 years, the Iranian people and our country of Iran has been taken hostage by a terrorist regime, and it’s time to take that regime down.”

Pourdanesh was not available for comment on Monday. I did speak to a handful of other Iranian-Americans on Monday. They didn’t play in the NFL, but their opinions are no less valuable than those of former NFL players.

And these people, some of them participating in rallies on behalf of a free Iran, do not understand the thinking of some Americans and mainstream media.

One complained that media that reports on reparations for black Americans based on slavery in the 1800s dismisses the Islamic takeover of the American Embassy in 1979 as an old grievance.

Another said his brother lives in England, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately called the American and Israeli attacks on the Ayatollah’s regime “illegal” but, as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service took years to do the same of Muslim rape (grooming) gangs in the country.

(Starmer announced a national “statutory inquiry” in June 2025).

Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh of the Washington Redskins looks on from the sideline during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 7, 1997, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers defeated the Redskins 14-13. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

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Pourdanesh Calls Out NFL Silence

And finally, Pourdanesh put the NFL on blast. He said in yet another post that during his career, the NFL asked him to honor black history, asked him to stand for women’s rights, asked him to fight for equality for those who cannot defend themselves.

“I did everything they asked, and now I ask the NFL this: Where are you now? Why haven’t we heard a single word out of the NFL? NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell, all the NFL teams out there, all the players who say they stand for social justice, where are you now?

“Why haven’t we heard a single word out of you with regard to the people who have been killed as of today? The very values you claim to espouse are being trampled right now. Why haven’t we heard a single word?”

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