Jordan Chiles is finding herself: "I still haven't hit my peak"

As U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles marched through her 2021 season, making clear that she was finally making good on years of promise and an always visible, undeniable talent, she needed a reminder from a friend – Simone Biles.

“The best piece of advice I've gotten, it'd probably be during [U.S.] Championships last year when I finished bars and Simone had told me that I deserved to be there and I deserved to be in the position I was in,” recalled Chiles in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com earlier this month. “And that really hit me to heart, because knowing what I went through at such a young age to that moment, I just knew everything finally came to a realisation of people understanding what I went through and how hard it was….I went through a lot and this is what I wanted to show you guys.”

The now 21-year-old had always been a promising talent, bursting onto the top echelons of the U.S. gymnastics scene in 2013 before winning the U.S. Classic as a junior a year later.

But injury and issues with her Vancouver, Washington-based coach, provided setbacks. She missed the world championships in 2017 despite finishing second at the U.S. nationals that year and then again in 2019. She had finished 6th all-around that season.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the World Championships in Liverpool. 

Big changes

So after graduating high school, Chiles made big moves: leaving Washington for Texas and a chance to train alongside Biles with coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi in 2019.

The year-long COVID-19 delay ahead of Tokyo 2020 gave Chiles valuable time, and when she returned to competition in February 2021 at the Winter Cup, she made a splash, winning the all-around title and marking herself as one to watch for the U.S. team at the Games.

“I feel that Jordan in 2021 was still known as the underdog, was still known as ‘Oh, she's up-and-coming,” said Chiles when asked to compare her 2021 self to present day.

The script has flipped.

Now, everyone knows Chiles. Her Olympic team silver medal and a viral video set to music by Lizzo giving her a spotlight she’s had to learn to thrive in.

“The Jordan in 2022, it transferred to the expectation of she's an Olympian, so we expect her to be on be on, be on, be on, or we expect her to do more than what she did in the past,” Chiles said. “There was no middle ground. It was like: underdog, oh, expectation. I understand that’s just how people think, that’s their thoughts, but it was really something that I was like, ‘Okay, now, how do I balance both?’”

Leaning on family, friends

To find that balance, she’s had to lean on her support system – old and new.

“My parents help me keep my ground,” she explained. “They help me understand like, yes, there are going to be these high demanding things that come your way, but at the end of it, we still want you to understand just to be your best version of yourself.”

Those big demands have also included a stellar freshman campaign as a member of the UCLA women’s team in Los Angeles, where she says she’ll return after the worlds. 

There, she’s connected with Sekai Wright.

“She kind of helped me in a way to really understand no matter what, you’re still that person [you always were], no matter what people think of you or how they truly perceive you as or what they expect from you,” Chiles explained. “Like, you can still go out there and still be Jordan. That was a huge thing because I was at first scared going into the college realm, understanding that I still want to be that Jordan that people know me as and not just the Jordan that’s the Olympian.

“She was able to bring that out of me,” she concluded.

Chiles' next journey: Paris 2024

That mindset was on display last month at the World Cup in Paris as Chiles thrived, winning the floor exercise title and finishing second in the vault in the venue that will host the Olympic Games in less than two years’ time.

“I was honestly, I think after floor, I did get a little teary eyed because I was just like, ‘Wow, this was just an amazing crowd,’” said Chiles. “Also, knowing, well, in two years what could happen because this is just the beginning of my next journey, my next chapter of what's going to happen.”

Her next journey started before the last had even ended. Chiles says that after a subpar performance in the qualifying round at the Games in Tokyo, she knew she wanted to push forward toward Paris 2024.

“I still haven't hit my peak and I've done this sport for so long and yet to have hit my peak. I'm just waiting for that moment,” she said of her drive to continue competing in elite gymnastics. “I just felt like I was able to give more and just to be able to just enjoy the moment now.”

That’s already started, with Chiles and coach Laurent Landi pausing at the end of the World Cup competition in Paris to contemplate the future.

“We always were talking like, 'Hey, this is Paris. Like what's going to happen in 24? Like, you never know,’” said Chiles with a smile. “Before we left, he had told me, he was like, ‘It seems like Paris looks really good on you.’

“And I started laughing because it was just, honestly, yes, Paris is my goal. Yes, Paris is my dream. But, you know, at the end of the day, like, whatever happens, happens and I'm just trying to focus and take it all the way to the end.”

She’ll do that sticking to the Jordan she’s always been.