Olympian, Jordan Chiles knows firsthand the importance of believing in the power of your dreams! Having aspired to be an Olympic athlete for most of her young life, the soon-to-be-UCLA Freshman is currently living her dream as the winner of a silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Best known as half of the dynamic duo, “Biles and Chiles,” Jordan famously trained alongside her best friend and the GOAT, Simone Biles, as she prepared to embark on the journey of a lifetime, performing gymnastics as part of the illustrious Team USA in Tokyo. But, it was an arduous road to get to this point…
Born in Tualatin, Oregon in 2001, Jordan Lucella Elizabeth Chiles is the youngest of five children born to Timothy and Gina Chiles. An animated bundle of energy, Jordan seemed destined for gymnastics when at the age of six she was enrolled in a recreational class at Naydenov Gymnastics and immediately approached with the opportunity to try out for pre-team, which was quickly followed by competing as a level 4 gymnast just one short year later.
After cartwheeling and hand-walking her way into the gymnastics arena, Jordan was a clear natural. Winning her first all-around title at the 2008 Emerald Team Challenge, she embarked on level 5 competitions in 2009 and was awarded with a gold medal on vault and a silver on floor at the State Championships. During the 2009-2010 season, the precocious athlete skipped level 6 and began competing at level 7, where she finished first on uneven bars and in the all-around, and qualified for Regionals as she proceeded to climb the ranks. Proving her prowess, Jordan again skipped over level 8 and finished first on vault, beam and floor at the 2011 Regionals, which qualified her to the Level 9 Western Nationals, landing the 10 year old at level 10 status in 2012.
At just 10 years old, Jordan qualified for the Junior Olympic Nationals, and then decided in 2013 (age 11) to attempt Elite level gymnastics. After attending a few national team training camps in the beginning of 2014, Jordan joined the Junior US National Team and the USA Junior Team for the City of Jesolo Trophy in Jesolo, Italy where she embarked on her first international competition and helped her team win gold. In 2015, Jordan once again made the Junior US National Team and in 2016 she was selected to represent the US again at the City of Jesolo Trophy where she won the all-around title and qualified to all four events, placing first on vault and second on uneven bars.
Jordan moved up to Senior Elite level competitions in 2017, made the Senior US National Team where she finished second with a silver medal, and was invited to attend the Worlds Selection Camp where she was named non-traveling alternate for the US Team. In 2018, she traveled to Germany to represent the United States at the DTB World Cup and to Colombia to compete at the Pacific Rim Championships where she helped her team win the title and earned gold medals for her skills on vault and floor. In August of 2018, Jordan earned a silver medal on vault at the US Championships in Boston, but after all of the training and competing, her Olympic dreams didn’t feel quite the same and she questioned if she even wanted to continue doing gymnastics anymore.
Realizing that a change was needed, after Jordan’s 2018 season she moved to Texas to train with coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi at World Champions Centre, alongside Simone Biles. After a year of not competing due to a wrist surgery in November 2019 followed by the global pandemic that turned the whole world upside down, Jordan found her mojo again and found herself at the top of her game at the 2021 WOGA Classic, finishing first in the all around and first on vault, uneven bars and balance beam! Jordan crushed a few more competitions, went 24 for 24 for the season, the only gymnast to perform at such a high capacity, and was rewarded in June 2021 when she was named to the USA Olympic Team at the U.S. Olympic Trials in St. Louis.
Now, a bonafide Olympian, Jordan will embark on the post-Olympic “Gold Over America Tour” in Fall 2021, featuring an all-star team of female gymnastics champions, headlined by her BFF Simone Biles, and celebrating powerful female athletes in a high-octane, fun-filled experience. Next, she’ll settle in to Westwood, CA to explore the world of Collegiate Gymnastics as a UCLA Bruin…as she learns to compete at the college level and gears up for the 2022 US Classic, National Championships and Worlds, ultimately training for another shot at gold, at the 2024 Olympics.
Jordan Chiles story is definitely To Be Continued….
