Jordan Chiles has an Olympic silver medal, but the future UCLA gymnast isn’t done yet

Jordan Chiles failed. At least she told everyone.

The 20-year-old UCLA-bound freshman stalled on bars and beams during Olympic qualification, a shocking break in shape after Chiles hit every routine to secure her place on the Olympic team last year. Behind the scenes, Chiles told their teammates that they let them down. After that, she called her parents from the hotel and told them the same thing.

Nobody believed her, but she also began to convince herself that she had failed.

“It was unusual for me to do that,” Chiles said recently. “If it was old Jordan, yes, but at the moment it was ridiculous.”

While “Old Jordan” made an undesirable cameo in the qualifying rounds, “New Jordan” walked away from the Games as a silver medalist. When Simone Biles withdrew from the team final for psychological reasons, Chiles helped Team USA to win a medal after a surprising overall performance. This is the gymnast UCLA will be welcoming to their campus this winter, a confident, focused, and powerful athlete ready to take on a new challenge.

Chiles may already have reached a lifelong goal of competing in the Olympics and winning medals, but she hasn’t dreamed enough yet.

Chiles is sitting on a bench under a tree in front of the Universal Sheraton Hotel on a recent trip to LA, imagining her long-awaited college career. She hopes to lead UCLA to the NCAAs after the Bruins missed the cut for the first time since 2006 last year. She plans a dynamic floor routine full of creative dance moves that marks her entry into the less restrictive world of college gymnastics. Most of all, prepare for the fun.

Chile needs that more than anything.

“Personally, I just want to have fun because the elite [level] it’s not fun, ”said Chiles.

Raised in Vancouver, Washington, Chiles reached elite status – the highest level of gymnastics – at age 11, just five years after her parents enrolled their wild youngest child in the sport. In 2014 she won the junior all-around and vault titles at the US Classic. Three years later, in their third elite senior competition, Chile finished second in the all-around event at the US Championships.

The achievement put her on the map. But things took a sudden turn when she was eliminated from the World Cup team a month later.

“At the time, I had the feeling that I was not wanted,” said Chiles, who was named as a non-traveling substitute. “I had the feeling that my teammates didn’t want me, I had the feeling that the sport didn’t want me.”

She wanted to throw away all of her trophies, ribbons, and medals. Seeing her only hurt her.

When it comes to their Olympic silver medal, Chile feels strong. Controlling coaches, fixated on stereotypes of the perfect gymnast’s body, tried to steal Chile’s joy. In Tokyo, she smiled widely as she stood on the podium with the medal hanging in front of her chest.

“It’s my shield,” said Chiles. “It’s something that will always protect me. No matter what, I will look back and know that there are memories that I will always cherish. I know there were things that happened in the past, but I was able to overcome them. “

Chiles won the medal when she stood in for Biles, her closest friend and confidante. After Chiles considered quitting elite gymnastics and simply enrolling at UCLA after high school, it was Biles who came in with a suggestion.

Come train with me, said the most highly decorated gymnast in World Cup history in 2018.

Chiles accepted the offer the following year. After graduating from public high school in 2019, Chiles moved to Spring, Texas to train under Laurent and Cecile Landi at the World Champions Center. Her confidence had been shattered for years, resulting in inconsistent performances, but Chiles became such a stone during competition that she never missed a competitive routine in 20 attempts before the games. She benefited from the postponement of the pandemic, which allowed her to recover from a wrist injury.

For the gymnast, who won over the fans in 2018 with a Wonder Woman jersey and set her Olympic floor exercise to the “Spider-Man” soundtrack, training at the WCC was part of Chile’s superhero origin story – the protagonist, who from the beginning Wounded fighting, stowed away to regain strength before emerging stronger than ever.

But Chile’s path isn’t as clean as it is in the superhero films she loves. The Hollywood ending would have shown she nailed every routine in Tokyo. She could have fought for an individual medal in the jump or on the ground, her strongest discipline.

Instead, Chiles did not make it to the event finals. During the preliminary meeting, she had a major break in shape in bars, knocked her feet on the mat and two falls on the beam. She just put too much pressure on herself, she said a week later.

After the qualifying round, Chiles retired to the hotel and then to the gym, where she buckled up in preparation for the team final. She told herself to keep believing in the power of her dreams. They had brought her this far.

“I wanted to give my last chance and show what I can do and why I am here,” said Chiles.

Chiles proved her courage when she stepped on and hit her beam and bars routines after doomed them in qualifying. UCLA coach Chris Waller, who was already watching live from Los Angeles at 4 a.m., who was already itching to add Chiles to the roster, was even more enthusiastic about the resilience that Bruin was showing in the future.

Two years after graduating from high school, Chile is ready to go to college. She has postponed her enrollment twice to watch the Olympics. She’s already in love with LA

The city suits Chiles, a budding entrepreneur whose long list of aspirations spans everything from finalizing a world championship after being banned from the team three times, being in a Marvel movie and winning an NCAA championship, before possibly returning to the Olympic stage in 2024, she will soon be able to settle in the city that has already supported so many big dreams.

She can still have her Hollywood ending.