Jordan Chiles was one of five women of the United States’ artistic all-around gymnastics team to win a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She also boasts another team gold and two individual silvers from the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship, and two additional NCAA golds and a silver from her time with the UCLA Bruins.

But even after all that, Jordan’s greatest challenge had yet to come, and it was hiding behind the double doors of an elementary school gymnasium.

Indeed, the latest episode of Julian Shapiro-Barnum’s YouTube series Celebrity Substitute required a guest who knew a thing or two about staying in shape, but perhaps wasn’t quite used to wrangling the attention spans of elementary schoolchildren, and Chiles proved to be the perfect candidate.

The school day at P.S. 9 kicked off with enthusiastic hellos, a tumble demonstration from Chiles, a routine muscle check just to see what sort of athleticism she was working with here, and one kid who asked her if she was afraid of cracking her head open when she first started gymnastics (which, in a room full of children who were ostensibly about to start some gymnastics, could have derailed the lesson). Luckily, Jordan handled it like the literal champ she is.

She didn’t even need to spend time explaining why physical fitness is so important, because the kids had all the answers locked and loaded (adults, you see, need to be strong in order to fight any giant robots that start attacking planet Earth, or to run away from tsunamis).

Then the workout began, and Jordan made the critical mistake of kicking things off with push-ups. Now, anyone whose memories of gym class are still fresh in their head knows that the quickest way to get your pupils to check out is push-ups. Sure enough, the room devolved into utter chaos shortly after, complete with rogue students, broken basketball expectations, and lots of impulsive sprinting. At the end of the day, we suppose a workout was had after all.

The final exam for Jordan and the P.S. 9 kids was to film a workout video, the news of which caused one of the kids to enthusiastically do his best Goku impression. Indeed, things were back on track.

And so, armed with a full-motion synthwave aesthetic, Jordan and her Olympians-in-training gave us all the lowdown on how to keep our bodies nimble and healthy, whether it’s by jogging, weightlifting, balancing on one foot, drinking water like an absolute maniac, or hyperfocusing on dribbling a basketball to the point where you block out the world around you. Ball, as they say, really is life.

Suffice to say that the 2036 Summer Olympics will see the United States packed to the absolute brim with hungry champions-to-be, raw athleticism, and probably the best world-threatening robot task force we will ever see in our lifetime. Such are the things you reap when you have a teacher like Jordan Chiles sowing her wisdom in the youth of today.

To become an Olympian you need a strong system and two-time medalist Jordan Chiles definitely has that in her mom and dad. Videos of Timothy and Gina Chiles emotionally reacting to their daughter’s performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics made the rounds online, showing just how invested the couple is in their daughter’s success.

Timothy and Gina are both pastors at the According to His Word Worship Center, have been together 30 years and have welcomed five children, daughters Jazmin, Jade, and Jordan, and sons Tajmen and Tyrusof. Jordan is the baby of the family.

Jordan Chiles’ parents’ ethnic background, explained

Jordan Chiles’ father, Timothy Chiles Jr., is African American, and her mother, Gina, is Latina. The two have been married for over three decades, celebrating the landmark anniversary in April 2024. “I love being the foundation you can stand on, the shoulders you can cry on, the arms that you can run into. I can’t wait to see what the next 30 years will bring us,” Tim gushed in an Instagram post marking the occasion.

In 2023, when Jordan was right in the middle of preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the family suffered a tragedy when both Jordan’s grandpa (Gina’s father) and her aunt ed away. Gene (Eugenio) Velasquez was 75. According to his obituary, he grew up in Gallina, New Mexico, before moving to Sunnyside, Utah, then Oregon, and eventually Humble, Texas to enjoy retirement with his wife Pam near his daughter and son-in-law.

Jordan was born in Oregon, where her parents first established the According to His Word Worship Center in a “hotel conference room in Portland,” per the church’s website. They soon relocated to Vancouver, Washington when the Olympian was around six. Jordan’s sports journey began during that time when her parents enrolled her in a recreational class at Naydenov Gymnastics in the hopes it would become an outlet for her endless energy. She was immediately asked to try out for the pre-team. In 2019, Mom and Dad followed their daughter to Texas after she ed Simone Biles’ World Champions Centre, taking their ministry with them.

Jordan’s struggles with racism in Gymnastics

As successful as Jordan Chiles has been over the past decade, the world of Gymnastics isn’t known for its kindness and sensitivity and she considered quitting as she dealt with discrimination and outright racism. “I’ve been told that my mom wasn’t my mom. I’ve gotten told that I wasn’t Black,” the medalist told Teen Vogue.

In another interview, Jordan called receiving comments from a coach about the volume of her hair, calling her “double head.” “I wanted to be done because I didn’t think … the sport wanted me,” Jordan confessed. Still, she perseveres, even in the face of obstacles like the recent debacle over her bronze medal in the floor exercise at the Paris Olympics, which generated major backlash worldwide when it was stripped from her and given to Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu.

Jordan is still in the process of appealing the decision near the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, but has opened up about the racial abuse she has suffered as a result of her reluctance to accept an outcome she deems “unjust.” “To add to the heartbreak, the unprompted racially driven attacks on social media are wrong and extremely hurtful,” she said in a statement.

Like always, mom Gina came to her daughter’s defense, saying “The racist disgusting comments are still happening in 2024. I’m tired of people who say it no longer exists. My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched…and she’s being called disgusting things.” Through it all, Jordan has remained graceful and driven. She is proud of her ethnicity and uplifted by her parents, from day one.

For American gymnast Jordan Chiles, what began as a moment of Olympic triumph quickly turned into heartbreak.

Chiles, who previously won silver in the team event at Tokyo 2020 and gold in the team event in Paris 2024, initially received a score that placed her fifth in the women’s floor exercise final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. To improve Chiles’ standing, Cecile Landi, Chiles’ coach and USA Gymnastics coaching staff member, filed an appeal to have an element in Chiles’ routine reevaluated. The judges approved the appeal, resulting in a 0.1-point increase in Chiles’ score. This boost was enough to elevate her from fifth place to third, seemingly securing a bronze medal position.

As the new scores were announced, Chiles and her team celebrated what they thought was her first individual Olympic medal. However, their happiness was short-lived as two can play the contesting game.

Why did Jordan Chiles lose her first individual Olympic medal?

After the change in scores, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation swiftly contested the decision, appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). They argued that the USA’s inquiry came after the allotted one-minute deadline for appeals. The CAS investigation revealed that Landi’s appeal was indeed filed four seconds too late, at 1 minute and 4 seconds after the score was posted.

In a stunning turn of events, the CAS ruled in favor of Romania’s appeal. The decision effectively nullified the USA’s inquiry and reverted Chiles’ score to its original value. This ruling stripped Chiles of her bronze medal and rearranged the event’s final standings. Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu was reinstated as the bronze medalist, while her teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea placed fourth. Chiles, who had briefly tasted victory, was back in fifth place.

Chiles received an outpouring of from her teammates and fans. Most notably Simone Biles, her longtime friend and fellow Olympian. Biles shared a heartfelt message of encouragement on social media, reminding Chiles of her accomplishments and strength.

While it might sting to lose an Olympic medal, it’s important to that Chiles’ performance is still noteworthy despite the absence of the bronze medal. After all, a mere 0.1 point difference in her score was enough to shift her placement from fifth to third and back. With presentations scored so close to each other, there’s an argument for both Chiles and the Romanian duo to take a medal home. Unfortunately, the strict rules of the Olympic games prevent a harmonious solution like that.

Updated on August 16, 2024, at 3:16 am ET.

Chiles is well aware of all the she got from friends, fans, and colleagues and used her X to thank everyone for all the loving words she has received since the unpopular decision. According to Chiles, she is still shaken by what happened but will use this unfair turn of events as a learning lesson while continuing to compete. Spoken like a true champion!

The Olympics are a prime arena for upsets, surprises, and sensational beginnings for the athletic legends of tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean that the games don’t play host to some familiar aspects, too.

One such familiarity is the ever-pronounced presence of the United States women’s gymnastics team, spearheaded by the one and only Simone Biles, who at just 27 is the most awarded gymnast of all time (altogether, she has 43 medals, 32 of which are gold).

Between Biles and her teammate Jordan Chiles, the United States women’s gymnastics team made up two-thirds of the women’s floor event medal podium at the 2024 Paris Olympics, topped by Brazil’s gold medalist, Rebeca Andrade. The photo of that trio is already iconic, but we wouldn’t have gotten it had Chiles’ coaches not stepped in at the last minute.

Jordan Chiles’ floor score update, explained

Chiles struck bronze for the women’s floor finals, but it was initially set to go to Ana Bărbosu of the Romanian team. Bărbosu scored 13.700 on her routine, while Chiles scored 13.666, but per an inquiry from Chiles’ coach, the latter’s score was updated to 13.766, which shot Chiles up to third place and booted Bărbosu from the running.

Now, that probably makes gymnastics scoring sound arbitrary, but it’s a bit more concrete than one might think. Floor scores in gymnastics are made up of two components; a “difficulty score” (known as D-score) and an “execution score” (E-score).

An E-score starts at 10.0 points and receives deductions for every mistake the gymnast makes during their routine. This can include balancing struggles, falling, or improper posture. A D-score, meanwhile, pinpoints the eight most difficult gymnastics skills performed during the routine and grades them based on where the skills fall on a scale of A to J (A’s are worth 0.1, J’s are worth 1.0).

In Chiles’ case, one of the moves she displayed during her routine — a tour jeté full, which is a type of split leap — was, in the eyes of her coaches, improperly credited in the D-score. Chiles initially finished her floor routine with a D-score of 5.8. After the inquiry, the score was elevated to 5.9 — in other words, it was decided that the tour jeté full was graded one degree lower than what it should have been — which changed her overall score from 13.666 to 13.7666. Chiles’ E-score for the routine was 7.866, and she received no additional point penalty; additional penalties can come in the form of stepping out of bounds or going over your allotted time.

Bărbosu, meanwhile, finished with a higher E-score at 8.000, but a 5.8 E-score and an additional 0.1 point penalty saw her finish with a 13.700 score, giving Chiles the bronze.

Why was the bronze medal then stripped from Jordan Chiles?

The third-place finish was Chiles’ first individual Olympic medal win of her career, but it was later relinquished back to Bărbosu on Aug. 11 when the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee won an appeal regarding the inquiry that took place during the event, ultimately reverting Chiles’ score back to 13.666.

The appeal argued that the United States’ inquiry during the event came after the one-minute deadline for appeals, and the investigation conducted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport concluded that the inquiry came four seconds too late, thereby validating the Romanian claim and rearranging the women’s floor standings back to what they were prior to the United States inquiry. In other words, Chiles ultimately finished in fifth place with a score of 13.666, and Bărbosu got her bronze medal with 13.700.

Perhaps, then, “arbitrary” isn’t the worst word in the world to describe gymnastics scoring.

There’s no denying how much sweat, blood, and tears go into training for the Olympics. Every single athlete that makes it to the time-honored trials deserves their moment to shine. But few athletes make it to the top only to come crashing back down.

Romanian gymnast Ana Bărbosu was one of the unlucky few to have her dreams come true only to find out that she missed her moment just an insultingly small amount.

Why did Jordan Chiles take Ana Bărbosu’s Olympic medal?

It really isn’t fair to say that Bărbosu’s medal was stolen, but to anyone watching as it was happening, it really felt that way. The final scores were tallied for the women’s floor exercises, and the 18-year-old Romanian appeared to have cinched her spot by the barest fraction of a point. She took to the floor with her country’s flag, eager to celebrate her win.

But as she leaped for joy, there was trouble brewing behind the scenes. The judges had failed to score one of U.S, contender Jordan Chiles’ moves. With 13.66, Bărbosu narrowly sinched bronze, but when Chiles’ routine was recalculated to 13.766, it knocked her down to fourth.

Chiles’ trainers were the ones to push the judges to reevaluate their scores. The gymnast had performed a split leap with a 1.5 turn that had gone untallied. The meager tenth of a point was all that was needed to push Chiles into third. Bărbosu left the arena in tears, prompting fellow Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci to slam the Olympic committee in charge.

The bronze medal marks the first time 23-year-old Jordan Chiles has placed outside of her team in 2024. Throughout the games, a rule that limits the games to just two athletes per country and her two incredible teammates –Simone Biles, Suni Lee, and Jade Carey – have left Chiles on the sidelines.

The strain of professional gymnastics usually forces athletes to retire in their early 20s. We don’t have enough information to speculate on which gymnasts might be retiring after the Paris games, but there is a real chance Bărbosu may never face off against Chiles again.
Shortly after the devastating event, Bărbosu took to Instagram, “Thank you to everyone who encouraged me before, during, and after the competition,” she wrote. 

For her sake, however, we hope that she gets the chance to compete against her again, and this time, maybe the judges will be better at their jobs.

From Gabriel Medina’s mid-surf levitation to Pan Zhanle’s swimming world record and Novak Djokovic’s first gold medal, the 2024 Paris Olympics have not been short of memorable moments. Gymnastics, however, has outshone all other sports.

A beautiful moment between champions took over the Paris 2024 conversation on Monday after silver-medalist Simone Biles and bronze-medalist Jordan Chiles (both Team U.S.) decided to bow down to their competitor and friend, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. Andrade finally made it to gold in the floor exercise after securing the third and second spots on the podium, respectively, in the past week.

Andrade managed to beat gymnastics superstar Biles with a gorgeous floor routine that earned her a 14.166 score and Team Brazil a second gold medal at this edition of the Olympic Games. The two athletes had been neck and neck for the past week, with Biles coming out on top on nearly every occasion. The rivalry soon turned into refreshing camaraderie, culminating in the year’s best photo — a perfect capture of the Olympic spirit.

Nancy Armour, a sports reporter for USA Today, shared the behind-the-scenes of the eye-watering moment. The idea to bow down to the winner came from Chiles, who had also just achieved her own dream by winning her first-ever individual medal in a last-minute turn-around, but Biles was quick to in. “It was just the right thing to do,” the most decorated gymnast in history told reporters, adding “[Rebeca] is queen.”

You can watch Chiles signal her plans to her teammate in the video below.

The three women, aged 27, 25, and 23 (L-R), made further history by becoming the first all-Black podium in Olympic Gymnastics history. “I’m sorry Medina, but this is the photo of Paris 2024,” Brazilian journalist Gustavo Zupak commented.

The healthy competition between Simone Biles and Rebeca Andrade has been one of the highlights of the 2024 Olympics, with the former joking on Thursday, after winning the All-Around competition by a short margin, that she didn’t want to compete with her Brazilian rival anymore.

I’m tired! She’s way too close. I’ve never had an athlete that close, so it definitely put me on my toes and it brought out the best athlete in myself, so I’m excited and proud to compete with her, but uh-uh. I’m getting uncomfortable, guys! I was stressing!”

Rebeca is the most decorated Olympian in Brazil’s history, and the first person to beat Simon Biles on floor since 2015 — no small feat considering the American’s reputation as one of the greatest athletes of all time. The historic photo, which will no doubt be ed for years or even centuries to come, is the perfect send-off to this especially exciting chapter in Artistic Gymnastics history as the sport’s events wrap up at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Jordan Chiles is a 23-year-old artistic gymnast representing the United States on the world stage. Chiles secured her place on the American artistic gymnastics team for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games alongside Simone Biles, Suni Lee, and Jade Carey. She contributed to their first-place finish, which earned her country their fourth overall Olympic team gold medal.

Chiles’ past success includes an Olympic silver medal at the 2020 event in Tokyo, a 2022 World Championship gold medal, a 2023 Pan American Games gold medal, and three Pacific Rim Championships gold medals.

The super-talented star — who recently appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue — has a mixed ethnic background. But what is Jordan Chiles’ ethnicity?

What is Jordan Chiles’ ethnicity?

Jordan Chiles was born to Timothy and Gina Chiles (née Velasquez) in Tualatin, Oregon, on April 15, 2001. As Yahoo! Entertainment explains, Chiles is Black from Timothy’s side of the family and biracial and Latina from Gina’s side.

In her Teen Vogue cover issue, she explained to the publication that she had been the target of racism in the past. Referring to one incident when she was a child, Chiles said, “Some lady in the crowd basically was like, ‘She doesn’t deserve to be on the floor. She doesn’t even look like anybody else.’ People were racially attacking me without me even really knowing.”

Nobody deserves to go through that, but Chiles hasn’t let it stand in the way of her monumental sporting success — and if anything proves she “deserves” to be on the floor, it’s the multiple gold medals that we hope the racist lady is now aware of.

We wish Jordan Chiles all the luck in the world for future success — not that someone as outrageously talented as her needs it.

We’re officially in the full swing of the 2024 Olympics season, with the trials of multiple sporting events coming to an end as the race to Paris heats up.

Already we’ve had breakout stars in track and field and shock injuries and withdrawals, but one heartwarming moment came at this year’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Gymnastics. The two-day event was action packed, especially for the women’s Olympic team hopefuls, featuring a stunning performance by Suni Lee and an unfortunate ruptured achilles heel for Kayla DiCello.

One athlete who also attracted buzz was Washington gymnast Jordan Chiles. So how did she fare at the trials, and what are her chances for Olympic glory?

What happened to Jordan Chiles?

Jordan Chiles competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Gymnastics in Minneapolis in late June, where she secured a place in the Olympic women’s gymnastics team following a standout performance across the two-day event. The 23-year-old was named as part of the team for Paris 2024 alongside fellow returning Olympians Simone Biles, Suni Lee, and Jade Carey. 

For her part, 16-year-old Hezly Rivera will also make her Olympics debut as part of the U.S. Olympics team, while Joscelyn Roberson and Leanne Wong will travel to Paris as the alternates. It marks the oldest U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team in history. Chiles’ place in the team was well-earned, given that she placed second on day one of the trials and was also named the runner-up of the event as a whole. 

Biles was the winner of the trials, though Chiles was hot on her heels with a well-scored vault performance and a Beyonce-sampling floor routine that got parts of the crowd on their feet. Chiles’ score at the end of night one was 56.400, not far off Biles, who secured her third Olympics bid with a score of 58.900. Chiles told reporters she is “very proud of [Biles] and to be behind her.”

It will mark Chiles’ second time at the Olympics, following her run at Tokyo 2020 where she won a silver medal. According to Chiles, Paris is a chance to improve upon the women’s second-place finish in 2020, and she told reporters at the trials that “we’re here for redemption.” Over on social media, Chiles shared her excitement at heading to Paris, writing: “Guys guess what?? I’m going to the Ahhhh Olympics!!!”

The gymnastics portion of the Paris Olympics will kick off on July 27, and will take place at the city’s Bercy Arena.