Spin, Flip & Dive:
Olympic Diver Hailey Hernandez

With 2021 Tokyo Olympics behind her, Hailey Hernandez’s focus is on making the Paris 2024 Olympic team — and being a top-notch student. She wakes at 6 a.m. nearly every morning for the first of two practices each day. As a freshmanstudying biology at The University of Texas at Austin, she also attends biology and chemistry classes and continues her studies navigating around the Longhorn dive team’s schedule.

 

Hernandez thinks the intense effort needed to strike a balance between being a professional diver and a student is worth it. “I enjoy diving so much because I love the feeling of flying and I love to jump off from all the different heights and do all kinds of tricks, flips and spinning,” she said. “I love that so much.”

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