Why Olympian Jordan Chiles almost quit gymnastics

Originally appeared on E! Online

When Jordan Chiles saw her name on her dressing room mirror at the Team USA Welcome Experience in Paris as the 2024 Olympics were getting underway, she immediately got misty-eyed.

"I'm on the thing!" the gymnast exclaimed in a video she shared, putting a meticulously manicured hand to her mouth. "I'm crying. I'm literally crying. This is so surreal."

Because even though Chiles is a returning Olympian who shared team silver in Tokyo three years ago with Simone Biles, Suni Lee and Grace McCallum, making it to her sport's biggest stage just doesn't get old. (Plus, one could argue that the pandemic-hampered 2020 Olympics held in 2021 was not the ideal debut experience.)

But while Chiles is just ready to put her best flip forward on the floor, beam, vault and wherever else she's needed — "I'll be the hype woman like I always am," she told NBC Sports at Trials last month — it was never a given that she was going to be in Paris. Or at any Olympics, for that matter.

Though Chiles was a natural when she took up gymnastics as a little girl growing up in Vancouver, Wash., having abilities that set her apart didn't always feel like a good thing.

"Every single time I went into a competition, I was like, ‘Well, what are they going to say this time?'" the 23-year-old told Elle in a recent interview. "I was racially attacked. I was always told, 'You’re not the typical gymnast. You look like a man. You're too muscular.'"

And if that's not enough to give you a case of the societal twisties, Chiles also was warned against eating too much, lest she not be an ounce less tiny than she already was.

After she heard Chiles was thinking of retiring, Biles invited her pal to train with her at World Champions Centre, the gym run by her parents Nellie and Ron Biles in Spring, Texas.

"You're telling me I’m not going to have muscles when I’m throwing my own weight around?" she said, recalling the unwarranted advice. "It's like, God created this body for a reason, so I’m going to use it as much as I can."

The girl whose parents were so inspired by her potential at birth they named her after Michael Jordan kept at it, overcoming critics, haters and skeptics.

But, having been a member of the U.S. team since 2013, when she wasn't named to the senior national team or the world team in 2018, Chiles was on the verge of hanging up her leotard for good.

"I lost the love of the sport," she explained. "I felt like I didn't belong; I felt like gymnastics didn't want me."

However, Biles was firmly against her BFF quitting.

After she heard Chiles was thinking of retiring, Biles invited her pal to train with her at World Champions Centre, the gym run by her parents Nellie and Ron Biles in Spring, Texas.

Two days after graduating from high school, Chiles walked through the doors of WCC and into her future.

"I discovered that gymnastics doesn't always have to be about strictness and being so hard on yourself and having so much doubt," Chiles told the New York Times ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. "I actually realized this when I saw Simone compete. She looks like she’s having fun out there, laughing and giggling, and doesn’t look stressed or tired. I was like, 'You know, I’m going to try that one of these days and see how it turns out.'"

Chiles placed third at the Olympic Trials in 2021 to earn her spot on the Tokyo-bound women's team, which was highly favored to win its third straight gold medal with defending all-around champion Biles at the helm.

But it was Biles who ended up needing the break, the pressure having stressed her out more than she ever let on, to the point where the team had to compete without her.

And then Chiles had the chance to stand up for her friend, who came in for some fierce criticism from people who accused Biles of abandoning the team at the very moment she was expected to rise to the occasion.

"I did try to tell her, 'Look, you know how to do everything and this is you. This is your moment. It's all up to you,'" Chiles said on TODAY of supporting Biles in that pivotal moment. It was her fellow athlete's story to tell, Chiles added, "but all I know is I'm going to support her no matter what. I am her teammate. I'm her best friend."

Looking back, Chiles told Elle with a laugh, "I'm happy that that moment happened, but I told her, 'Please don’t ever do that again. I would really appreciate that.'"

Meanwhile, everyone on the squad stepped up in Biles' stead: The team still impressively finished in second place and Lee went on to win individual all-around gold and take bronze on uneven bars. Jade Carey also ran away with the floor exercise gold, MyKayla Skinner scored silver on vault and Biles was able to rally in time to earn bronze on beam.

Still, let's just say, the U.S. women's gymnastics team is on a mission in Paris.

Yet while it feels meant to be that Biles, Chiles and Lee — joined by Carey and newcomer Hezly Rivera — have a golden opportunity for team redemption, Chiles in no way took for granted that she'd get another shot at Olympic glory.

Which meant making sure she did everything she could to secure her space on the 2024 squad.

"I'm going to put myself out there," she explained her approach to Business Insider last December. "I'm going to go do this and have an amazing time because I didn't want to regret anything. I didn't want to look back and be like, 'Oh, I could have done that,' or, 'Oh, I could have been on that podium.'"

Chiles added, "I'd rather try and do everything and give everything and be like, 'Whatever happens, happens.'"

What happened is, her name is on the dressing room mirror in Paris.