When 23-year-old gymnast Jordan Chiles returned from the 2024 Olympics Trial in Minneapolis with a third-place all-around finish, there was a special surprise waiting at her home in Texas: a bouquet from Grammy winner Megan Thee Stallion. “Congratulations on qualifying for the AHH-lympics!” it read. “Very excited to watch you shine in Paris and represents for all the Hot girls!”
“I was not expecting it,” Chiles tells Rolling Stone, her signature cheesing grin lighting up her Zoom screen. “When my brother brought them in I was like, ‘There ain’t no way this girl done sent me flowers!’ I was getting teary-eyed because it made me feel like somebody was actually recognizing the hard work that I put in. She’s definitely my H-town sister, for sure.”
On paper, Chiles is a UCLA Bruins gymnastics team member who received two NCAA individual titles for her floor and bar routines; the lynchpin Team USA member who helped clinch a silver medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, after Simone Biles unexpectedly dropped out with the twisties (a gymnastics term for disorientation that prevents them from twisting); and this month, she’ll attend the 2024 Paris Olympics in what could be her final appearance on such a grand world stage. But to those who know her best, Chiles is a fighter, who — having survived a coaching environment she described as “toxic” and “traumatic” — has both rediscovered her love for her sport and is excited to prove to the world that flipping isn’t all she has in her.
“Yes, I am a vet in my sport,” she says. “I’m 23. In my sport that’s old. I feel like I’m 40, like I wake up every morning like, ‘Oh, my body hurts. But in the real world, I’m just starting life.” Rolling Stone caught up with Chiles to chat about balancing college with an Olympic career, choosing joy, and where she keeps that shiny silver medal
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, you were a key part of Team USA taking home the silver medal. What was going on in your head when you realized you would have to compete on balance beam and uneven bars when Biles dropped out with the twisties?
People don’t understand how huge those shoes were [that] I stepped into. The GOAT of gymnastics and my best friend! They were relying on me. That was a test. God was testing me there. I wouldn’t have been able to do if it wasn’t for the support of my teammates and my coaches. I’m just beyond proud of that silver medal. Every single time I look at it, that’s the sweat, the tears, the grime we went through. That’s my shield, that’s my rock. I will forever cherish that. At the end of the day, we supported each other and we stood on business.
After Tokyo, you weren’t sure that the Paris Olympics were even a possibility. You were able to step in for Biles when she withdrew, but after a practice season completely error-free, you failed to qualify in any of your individual events. Walk me through that decision — what changed?
During Tokyo, I called my mom because I was like, ‘I failed. I’m done. This is crazy, and the world’s gonna hate me, [just] bawling my eyes out. So coming back, I [thought] maybe I need just to get the elite world out of my brain. I want to live my college life, go find a man, however it needs to be. But then I kept thinking every day maybe I have more to give. In that moment, I was like, what’s there to lose? It was me telling myself, ‘What you did in Tokyo was just a preview. But what you could do in Paris could shift the whole perspective of who you are.’
In 2019, you moved to Texas to train with Biles after escaping a toxic coaching situationwhere you felt you were being belittled and undermined. Do you think that changed the trajectory of your gymnastics career?
Mentally, physically, emotionally, I did go through a lot as a young athlete. There are days that are tougher than others, but it didn’t need to be that harsh. I thought it was normal. But [my training] didn’t need to be in a way where I’m coming home every day crying to myself to sleep. At that time, [Biles] wasn’t my teammate, she was just somebody I looked up to. But she encouraged me to move to a safe space, a better place. And now I can wake up every morning and be like, ‘Okay, I’m going into a gym where I don’t have to feel like I’m getting critiqued every day.’ I don’t have to feel like I’m getting racially attacked every day. I can actually wake up and just enjoy being at my sport and having fun and just doing me. I do give thanks to Simone all the time because I wouldn’t be this girl going to a second Olympics if it wasn’t for her.
How do you deal with the public and national pressure of being an Olympian?
The public thing is annoying, I can tell you that. Y’all are saying all these things, but at the end of the day, who’s the athlete? Are you flipping on a four-inch piece of wood? No, I don’t think so. I don’t like social media. I don’t like putting my life on it because people can take it a different way. Being older, I don’t want to deal with it, because my life is already fun. [It] doesn’t need any negativity in it. We like to vibe over here.
Speaking of negativity, MyKayla Skinner recently got in hot water for her criticism of Safe Sport, the Congress-created organization that aims to prevent further abuse in Olympic-level sports. Skinner said it was hindering coaches from being able to successfully teach athletes without fear of abuse claims. How do you feel about those comments being made about Team USA?
There’s so much I can say about it. But as somebody who loves every person in this world, I’m not a hater. Was it disrespectful the way she put those words? 100 percent. But at the end of the day, that’s what she felt like she needed to say in that moment. I was sad but it didn’t harm me.
With this platform, what are important causes that you want to champion?
Being a woman of color, one. That’s just powerful in itself, having the ability to stand up and say, ‘Yes, I’m part of the diversity and inclusion in this sport. I’m a part of everything that has been changing. When I started, I was literally the only [Black] girl in my gym before I moved to the World Champion Center. So with my sport, that’s kind of how I want the younger generation to think of it. That you can walk in and be like, ‘Okay, I see not only one girl that looks like me, but I see multiple girls that look like me. If she can do it, I can do it.’
You’ve been a gymnast since you were six. How do you even begin to fathom a life after gymnastics?
I have a very creative mind. So, I definitely think the biggest thing for me is just ‘How can I help my community?’ Real estate is a huge thing that I want to do, being able to give back, whether it’s a charity, whether it’s a foundation that needs help. I have a lot of things on my mind that I want to do beyond my sport.
How are you feeling ahead of Paris?
This is a redemption tour for the four of us on the Olympic team. Of course, we want to be able to come back with gold medals. But we’re testing ourselves. This is something we wanted so bad. So why not do it? Why not go out there and just be us? I don’t feel overwhelmed. I feel like I’m in the right spot at the right time. But I would love to [be with] my Mickey ears and my gold medal smiling next to the Paris Disney Castle.
