A little rest and relaxation after earning an Olympic gold medal might seem perfectly reasonable to the average person.
Jordan Chiles is not your average person.
Since being awarded gold and bronze medals in Paris, France during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Chiles has gone on a whirlwind press tour, been featured in Nike’s Super Bowl ad “So Win,” released a memoir, “I’m That Girl,” in March, and, oh — returned for her junior year at UCLA, where she majors in African American Studies and competes in NCAA gymnastics. A week after leading her team to the Big Ten regular season title, she captured her fourth consecutive all-around title in a win over Stanford in front of a record-setting crowd at UCLA’s Pauley Pavillion.
Glittering as her achievements may be, Chiles is more than their sum — making history not just in gymnastics, but emerging as a leader for a new era in women’s sports. In recognition of her stature, Time recently lauded the 23-year-old as one of their “Women of the Year.”
Thrust into the Olympic spotlight
Chiles’ career has been one for the books since high school, but really took off in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Summer Games. In 2021, then aged 20, she was thrust into the Olympic spotlight after being called on mid-competition to replace Simone Biles, when the superstar gymnast had to withdraw from the team competition due to the twisties. Chiles nailed the balance beam and uneven bars without even having time to warm up. Her performance helped the U.S. women earn a gutsy silver medal in the team event and led to a rousing US homecoming from fans impressed with how she and the team overcame the adversity of an Olympics constrained by COVID-19 protocols and Biles’ withdrawal.
Chiles followed up her Olympic performance by joining UCLA after a summer on tour with Biles and Katelyn Ohashi, the UCLA gymnast who became a viral sensation after earning a perfect 10 for her joyous floor routine featuring an Earth, Wind and Fire, Janet and Michael Jackson, and Tina Turner medley.
Gymnastics has never been lacking artistry and drama — it’s artistic gymnastics, after all — but then-UCLA coach Valorie Kondos Field’s program was at the forefront of embracing authenticity and inclusivity in the gymnastics world. Kondos encouraged her athletes to design routines that reflected their personalities and genuinely made them want to dance. A new younger audience became captivated by the team’s embrace of popular music and the latest looks, spurring an adoring online fan base. YouTube videos of Sophina deJesus, Ohashi, and Nia Dennis performing astounding, competition-deciding routines generated a combined quarter-billion views, with countless replays on national media and morning television. College gymnastics was box office, and UCLA even more so — a perfect fit for a performer as charismatic as Chiles.
Everyone watches women’s sports
Chiles’ ascendancy has come at an exciting time for women’s sports. As Time magazine pointed out in their feature interview with Chiles and WNBA star and fellow Olympic gold medalist A’ja Wilson:
“The women’s NCAA basketball championship had more viewers than the men’s for the first time ever. College athletes earned massive sponsorship deals. The most-watched days of the Paris Olympics were the ones featuring women's gymnastics. And for the first time in the history of the Games, an equal number of men and women competed.”
Shouldering the future of women’s athletics is a lot to ask of someone who hasn’t even finished college, but Chiles seems to relish the challenge of growing women’s sport. Earlier this season, Chiles was vocal in encouraging fans to come to home meets to support the Bruins. The result? A final meet in which Pauley set a program record for attendance with 12,918 fans in attendance.
When Chiles speaks, people listen. And she has shown herself to be resilient, even in the face of tremendous public scrutiny and online trolling, as she showed in the aftermath of the Paris Olympics.
This past summer, Chiles was awarded the Olympic bronze medal on the floor exercise, setting up one of the most iconic moments of the Paris Olympics, the first all-Black podium in gymnastics history, and an expression of sports(wo)manship that reflects the Olympic credo and a mutual appreciation for the rarefied air these hard-working athletes breathe.
This is everything. pic.twitter.com/FrXz7wWtQg
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 5, 2024
“Knowing there weren't a lot of women of color when I was younger, and knowing that I can help that—and I've been helping that—is really cool,” Chiles told Time. “That all-Black podium was just the beginning of something that will hopefully continue, not just within our sport, but within sports in general. It's always going to be in history books, no matter what, and I really appreciate knowing that I was a part of that.”
Coming back with a ‘banger’
The thing about being an elite athlete is it’s not enough to work hard your whole life and make history once — it’s continued excellence that earns you fans like LeBron James and makes people pay attention. Fortunately for Chiles, excellence is not a problem.
In her collegiate career thus far, Chiles has won the individual NCAA title on floor and uneven bars and been named an All-American athlete nine times. She has earned perfect 10s — gymnastics highest score — 10 times during her collegiate career, including two just this year. Her most recent 10 was on a new floor routine to a Prince medley, honoring one of her favorite artists.
“I thought, ‘If I'm coming back, I want to come back with a banger,’” Chiles told ESPN. “I don't want to come back and be like, ‘Oh hey guys, I am back.’ No, I want to come back with something that people are going to enjoy. Artistic gymnastics is very known for just the gymnastics part, and I wanted to be able to bring the art back into the sport, and so I felt like Prince was the best thing to do for that. Who wouldn't want to be able to sit and eat their popcorn at a gymnastics meet and feel like you're at his concert?”
Chiles’ excellence extends beyond the floor, as a beloved teammate who pushes the program and the culture.
“She has this ability to just elevate the room around her,” UCLA head coach Janelle McDonald told ESPN. “She brings this energy and this passion to the table each and every day that inspires the people around her. And it's really cool this year, seeing that she's taken all the experiences that she's had and brought it in as a leadership role. I’ve seen all these moments over the last few weeks where she's kind of stepped over and had conversations with people to help their mindset and their confidence.”
“I want to be able to leave a legacy at UCLA, just like a bunch of my other teammates have and just to continue to represent in the way that I can,” Chiles said.
Watch Chiles and UCLA gymnastics ink this chapter in real time on April 17 - 19, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas, at the NCAA gymnastics championship.
