Say what you want about 2016, but it has certainly blessed Laurie Hernandez. The 16-year-old gymnast went from the Final Five at the 2016 Olympics to first place in "Dancing With the Stars" Season 23. Everyone kinda knew she would win, and for once everyone was right.

Laurie won the Fall 2016 season with pro dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy (who was dubbed the biggest "trash talker" of the season, see below). Laurie is the first Latina dancer to win DWTS, and she set a record as the youngest-ever winner, beating fellow Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson (Season 8) and Bindi Irwin (Season 21), who were both 17 when they won. This was Val's second Mirror Ball trophy win, after Rumer Willis in Season 20.

For the November 22 win, the top-scoring Team Valaur defeated runners-up James Hinchcliffe & Sharna Burgess, and third placers Calvin Johnson, Jr. & Lindsay Arnold. The three finalists, plus fourth-placers Jana Kramer & Gleb Savchenko, were on "Good Morning America" Wednesday to celebrate the end of the season. That's when they did a round of yearbook superlatives and Val was jokingly named the biggest trash-talker, although he argued he's just "sarcastic."


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Laurie and Val can next be seen on the DWTS tour this winter:

And the adventures of #TeamValaur continue! ????Who's coming to see them in the #DWTSTour?! ????????

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DWTS will return to ABC in the spring of 2017, and we hope Sharna will finally get that Mirror Ball trophy she has deserved for a while now.

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