Jordan Chiles: "It’s really hard as African-American, being looked at or judged a certain way"

In her latest press conference, artistic gymnast Jordan Chiles weighed in on the importance of embracing oneself. The American athlete has always been vocal about body positivity and self-love. Therefore, she continues to raise awareness about self-embracing through different platforms.

Chiles was a victim of body shaming. In 2021, the gymnast revealed about experiencing body shaming by her coach. The criticism made her so conscious about herself that she once decided to quit the sport. However, she eventually learned to embrace everything about herself and not get affected by others' comments.

Recently, an Instagram post by Sportico showed Chiles in a press conference at the Variety + Sportico Summit. During the interaction with the media, the 22-year-old talked about re-inventing beauty standards and also opened up about the things that made her feel insecure before realizing that it was pivotal to embrace one's own beauty.

“It’s okay to embrace your hair. It’s okay to embrace your beauty,” the gymnast expressed.

Furthermore, Jordan Chiles added how it felt to be judged in a certain way by societal beauty standards. She said:

“Really, knowing that being in it, it’s really hard as African-American being, you know looked at a certain way or you have to be judged a certain way.”

Chiles revealed that she was made to feel conscious about her hair. However, she soon realized that there was nothing wrong with it. She aims to let the younger people know that they can be the way they want to be and can do things the way they want to.

Jordan Chiles added what made her stand out from other gymnasts.

"I will wear my hair how I want to wear it, I will. You know I’m really one of the only gymnast that actually has nails doing their sports. It’s very like unique to even see that,” she said at the conference.

She concluded her narrative by expressing delight at the change settling in gradually.

“So I just always like let everybody know you do what you want to do. Your beauty is your beauty. And honestly, it’s crazy to see the change because it is changing," she said.

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How long did Jordan Chiles experience body-shaming and verbal abuse?

Jordan Chiles at 2022 Gymnastics World Championships - Day Eight

Jordan Chiles faced tremendous fat-shaming and verbal abuse from the age of 7 to 16 by a woman coach at the Washington gym. So much so, that it had deeply affected her relationship with food.

However, ending the toxic experience at the gym, she left and ended up at the Texas' World Champions Centre to train under coaches Laurent Landi and Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, as well as gymnast Simone Biles.

Later on, when Chiles’s mother got to know about her traumatic experience, she apologized to her daughter. But the gymnast did not blame her parents for her experience. She took the responsibility to heal herself and started the process by training in less strict environments.