"Jordan Chiles couldn't see gymnastics without seeing hurt & emotional pain" - Gymnast's mother Gina Chiles recalls her detachment from the sport

Jordan Chiles' mother, Gina Chiles opened up about how her daughter detached herself from gymnastics in 2018 since she couldn't perceive the sport without the traumas she faced over the years. Chiles' mother consistently supported the Olympian and is often spotted at the latter's gymnastic events.

Jordan Chiles won gold as part of the US women’s gymnastics team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, the upgrade to the floor bronze didn’t last long since the CAS ruled that her team’s inquiry crossed the one-minute deadline. Chiles was then ordered to return her medal, leaving her devastated.

Amid her difficult time, she received support from several athletes, and her mother, Gina Chiles, has been her biggest pillar of strength. In a recent podcast 'Got It From My Momma', Gina Chiles recalled the mental struggles her daughter faced in 2017 and how she detached herself from her sport in 2018.

According to her, Chiles stopped attending the gym in 2018 and finished a disappointing eleventh in the all-around at the National Championships that year, owing to years of mental toll and finding it difficult to be in tune with elite gymnastics.

"In 2017 everything kind of changed. In 2018, Jordan wasn't really going to gym because she's old enough to drive herself. We didn't know she wasn't spending as much time in the gym as she normally did. She was going to the mall and kicking it and doing different things. So we didn't know that she was separating herself from gymnastics because Jordan couldn't really see gymnastics without seeing the hurt and the emotional pain that she experienced over several years." (31:35)

She continued:

"In 2018, she was kind of just going through the motions. And so by the time she got to U.S. Championships, it didn't go the way that she wanted to."

Jordan Chiles' mother then lauded her WCC teammate, Simone Biles, for motivating her daughter.

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"2018 was a very very tough year" for Jordan Chiles according to her mother Gina Chiles

Jordan Chiles at the 2024 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships - Source: Getty

Chiles parted with her long-time coach in 2017 and self-coached for a while after joining hands with a provisional trainer. In the 'Got It From My Momma' podcast, Gina revealed that her daughter struggled to navigate during that time and hit her lowest in 2018, and the family tried their best to back her.

"During the process, she seemed like she was thriving again or going off of how it appeared, not really knowing what emotional distress she was under. She started to really struggle. So, 2018 was a very very tough year. We were doing everything we could to support her."(18:00)

Two years later, Chiles contributed scores to the US women's gymnastics team's silver finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, in the wake of Biles's withdrawal.