From being on the brink of quitting gymnastics to winning an Olympic medal, how Simone Biles and WCC revived Jordan Chiles' career

Simone Biles has played a pivotal role in Jordan Chiles’ career. Three years before Chiles rose to the occasion at the Tokyo Olympics after Biles withdrew from the competition due to twisties, the UCLA gymnast was on the brink of quitting the sport.

Chiles once claimed in an interview that she had even started taking her training and diet lightly and was thinking of joining a college after her school ended. It was a talk with Biles that directed her on the road to Olympic glory, and this year, she aims for more at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Chiles’ senior international career started in 2016, and by 2017, she had made decent progress, winning a silver medal in the all-around competition at the U.S. National Championships. However, she wasn't named in the team for the World Championships. In fact, she wasn't named for any international event that year.

Speaking with the NY Times in an interview in 2021, Chiles said that she felt gymnastics didn't want her anymore. She had told her mother that she didn't want the medals she had won in her career by that time in her room. The 23-year-old was also unhappy with her coach, and despite working with a new one, nothing changed. It got worse rather, with her mother Gina Chiles claiming that the gymnast ‘had checked out from the sport’.

Jordan Chiles made another attempt to regain her glory at the 2018 National Championships but an 11th-place finish made her decide on a path; she was going to finish her school and go to college. But as destiny had it, a talk with Simone Biles during that time changed everything for her.

Biles offered to train her at the World Champions Centre with her coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi. It turned out to be a magical pill. There was one key thing that helped Chiles revive her career, as the 23-year-old recalled:

“I discovered that gymnastics doesn’t always have to be about strictness and being so hard on yourself and having so much doubt. 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.’”

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Following Simone Biles' interruption, Jordan Chiles' career began to flourish again

2024 Core Hydration Classic-Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles (Image via Getty)

After starting to train at the World Champions Centre, Jordan Chiles’ first competition was at the U.S. Classic, and Laurent and Cecile Landi claimed they were ‘shocked’ to see ‘how good she looked’.

Leading up to the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Chiles won the all-around competition at the Winter Cup and finished second behind Simone Biles at May's U.S. Classic. At the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, she finished third and was later named to the five-member team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Jordan Chiles impressed in Tokyo, contributing to the team's silver medal in the absence of Simone Biles. This year, she finished third at the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Trials and is now all set to represent the USA at the Paris Olympics in her second Olympic appearance. Earlier, Chiles finished 2nd at the U.S. Classic behind Biles. It marked the second time in her career that she finished behind Biles in the all-around competition, the first instance being the 2021 U.S. Classic.