Laurie Hernandez practices her floor routine
RIO DE JANEIROShe was waitingto begin her floor routine at the Olympicswhen the chants started to ring out through the arena here a few American voices at first, then a few more, and then a loud cacophony from the Team USAsupporters.
"Laurie! Laurie! Laurie!"
Was it a vote of confidence for the odd-girl out in the competition for the two U.S. spots in the all-around? Was it just the anticipation of the emotive Old Bridge native"s self-described "sassy" floor program? She had no way to know, but she heard the chants, loud and clear.
"Yeah, that was sooo cool," the 16-year-old said with her wide eyes opening even wider than usual. "Ohmygod."
This was the last moment, however, that the first night of the gymnastics competition was about Hernandez and yes, that was okay with her, too. No, she didn"t get to compete on the uneven bars, which meant she had no chance to qualify for the high-profile individual competition on Thursdaythat crowns the best gymnast in the world.
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Still: Hernandez understandsshe is part of the best gymnastics team in the world, and maybe the best d**n gymnastics in the history of the Olympics when the scores are all counted on Tuesday night.
That"s plenty cool, too.
"Absolutely," she said after the Americans finished team qualifying with a ridiculous 10-point lead over the world. This is a sport that is supposed to be decided by tenths of a point, not 10 points, but with Simone Biles leading the charge, the U.S. is only competing against history.
"Team USA, we"re so strong, you know?" Hernandez said. "Our team is made up of very amazing talented girls and we all work hard in the gym. I feel like we really deserve this."
Her first taste of the Olympics proved to be a good one. Not only will she be part of the five-woman team that is likely to steamroll its way to that gold medal on Tuesday night, but she qualified for the individual competition on the balance beam, too.
Her score of 15.366 on the beam trailed only the remarkable Biles who should be tested to see if she"s actually of this planet which means she"ll have a good shot to add a silver medal to that likely team gold.
Look: The many fans and observers who thought she had earned a shot to compete for the all-around (and I"m one of them) weren"t wrong. Had you plugged in her best score on the uneven bars from the U.S. trials, she would have narrowly outscored 2012 medal winner Gabby Douglas on Sunday.
But that wouldn"t have come close to beating Ally Raisman, who called her performance in finishing second overal to Biles"the best meet I"ve ever had." Given the talent, Team USA czar Martha Karolyi honestly couldn"t make a wrong decision here, and Hernandez handled it with class.
"I"ve learned to just deal with whatever situation comes for me," Hernandez said. "I respect 100 percent Team USA"s decision. We"ve been so successful over the years, and if they have to put someone a little stronger and more consistent in bars, then I respect that."
The bigger problem is the controversial "two-per-country" rule, which limits each nation to two competitors in the all-around and individual apparatus competitions. The spirit of the rule is to give others a shot in a sport that is dominated by a handful of countries.
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"I don"t like it because I feel if it"s the best athletes, then the best athletes should be competing," said Aimee Boorman, Biles" personal coach. She"s right, of course, butif the rule didn"t exist, Team USA would need a shopping cart to take home all its medals from Rio.
The five gymnasts can"t count on the rest of the world to challenge them, so they push themselves. And clearly, the woman who built this program into the juggernaut it has become knows what she"s doing, too.
"Repeatedly I tell them during training you"re not doing it for mom or dad or the public or me," Karolyi said. "You really doing gymnastics because you want to be the best you can be."
The world is going to watch a heavy dose of that excellence. Up next: The team finals on Tuesday, when it feels as if they world is competing for silver, and then the Biles Show on Thursday in the all-around. Hernandez won"t compete that day, but she"s cool with that.
She is on the best gymnastics team in the world, maybe the best d**n gymnastics team in history. That"s plentycool, too.
Steve Politi may be reached atspoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@StevePoliti. FindNJ.com on Facebook.
Source: http://www.nj.com/olympics/index.ssf/2016/08/2016_olympics_nj_gymnast_laurie_hernandez_puts_aside_personal_goals_for_usa_dream_team_politi.html
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