There’s this idea that once you’ve made it to the top, once you’ve got the medals, the headlines, the viral moments — life gets easier. But anyone who’s lived it will tell you that’s not how the story goes. Sometimes success just hands you a new mountain to climb. For Jordan Chiles, though, this might be truer than most. After all, Tokyo 2021 was her moment. A silver medal with Team USA felt like a dream. And she continued this momentum as she jumped into her college life, full of hope, excitement, and big dreams. But as she quickly found out, no amount of medals could shield her from the tough lessons waiting on the other side.
So, we all know Jordan Chiles has been crushing it lately — she just snagged the uneven bars title at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships on April 17, 2025. But here’s something a lot of people might not realize: getting to this point wasn’t exactly a straight shot. After deferring her eligibility to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Jordan finally joined the UCLA squad in 2022.
And just recently, she opened up about the real story behind that transition in her new book, I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams, which dropped on March 5. “After deferring my initial acceptance at UCLA, I finally started a class in January 2022, when I was twenty years old,” she shared. Starting college was a big shift, but Jordan made sure she didn’t take on the chaos alone.
She got her first dog, a chocolate-colored toy poodle named Chanel, right around that time. “It helped to have an emotional support pup with me, my little cuddle bug,” she wrote. Honestly, sometimes it’s the little things — like a tiny cuddle buddy — that help you survive the biggest changes. At first, it felt like she had finally landed exactly where she was meant to be.
Jordan Chiles had set her sights on UCLA back to middle school. “I’d chosen UCLA, way back when I was a seventh grader, because it’s a vibe: the California sunshine and proximity to Los Angeles — not to mention that UCLA was close to major zoos and my lifelong addiction, Jamba Juice, was on campus.” But it wasn’t just about the sunshine and smoothies. “My parents also made me consider the strong academics that UCLA offered, and they were right about that too,” she added.
She started out majoring in business economics but soon found herself drawn in a different direction. “After all I’d been through, I think I wanted to understand more about people,” she explained, eventually switching her major to sociology. In the gym, Jordan didn’t hold back either. NCAA gymnastics gave her the creative freedom elite gymnastics rarely allowed.
“Using hip-hop or R&B music in my routines would have been frowned upon in elite gymnastics,” she wrote. But college was different, and Jordan made sure everyone noticed. Her very first NCAA floor routine, packed with Normani and Lizzo hits and hip-hop dance moves, went viral. “I was proud of myself for pushing the envelope and breaking the mold,” she said.
Sure, some older judges weren’t thrilled, but the internet loved it — and Jordan Chiles knew she had sparked something bigger. Still, the dream wasn’t without its cracks. Collegiate gymnastics brought its own set of challenges, from the pressure to chase perfect 10s — something you can’t even get in elite gymnastics anymore — to deeper, more painful realities like “R*cism“.
Just before she arrived on campus, a white teammate used the n-word while singing a song during practice. Even though Jordan wasn’t there when it happened, the fallout was immediate. “My phone immediately blew up with calls and texts from my new UCLA teammates venting their outrage,” she shared. It was a gut punch. “This wasn’t quite the welcome to the team I’d been hoping for all those years leading up to finally coming to campus,” she admitted.
For Jordan Chiles, the move from Olympic stardom to NCAA life wasn’t all standing ovations and viral moments — it was messy, complicated, and sometimes deeply painful. But true to form, she faced it with grit, heart, and a spirit that refused to be boxed in. And look at her now — another gold medal in Paris! Sure, the bronze medal drama hit hard and left her crushed, but when she needed it most, UCLA was right there to lift her up.
Jordan Chiles overcame her darkest days
Jordan Chiles found herself in the middle of a wild controversy after the 2024 Paris Olympics. She was initially awarded a bronze in the women’s floor exercise final, but things quickly turned sour when her medal was revoked. It all went down after her coach, Cecile Landi, submitted an inquiry challenging her score. The inquiry was accepted, moving Chiles into third place, but then the Romanian Gymnastics Federation cried foul, saying the inquiry came four seconds too late.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) sided with the Romanians, reinstating the original scores and giving the bronze to Ana Barbosu instead. USA Gymnastics even had video evidence showing the inquiry was within the allowed time, but CAS refused to reopen the case. So, the IOC told Chiles to hand the medal back. After the ruling, Chiles didn’t hold back her feelings.
“I have no words,” she said, reflecting on how tough the whole thing had been, especially with some rac**t comments that came her way. But even with the medal stripped, she stayed strong, declaring, “It’s still a bronze in my heart.” Despite everything, Chiles kept pushing forward, joining the UCLA gymnastics team and showing off her skills, even posting the top all-around score in a senior meet.
She even led UCLA to a Big Ten title and earned perfect 10s on floor and bars. And that UCLA Journey made her forget the medal controversy. Now, Chiles is focused on continuing her journey, knowing that the strength she gained from her darkest days is what drives her to shine.
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