2024-07-31 16:35:02
PARIS — The Olympic gold medal around Jordan Chiles’ neck more than makes up for the disappointment of missing out on the women’s gymnastics all-around final.
She will forever be an Olympic champion, and she knows that the U.S. women wouldn’t have won this title without her contributions. She competed on all four events Tuesday night, leading the Americans off on three of them.
“Having this opportunity definitely felt really good,” Chiles said. “Being able to be a part of winning this gold medal … it’s just been an amazing experience.”
Chiles had the fourth-highest score in qualifying, which should have qualified her for the all-around final. But countries are limited to two gymnasts in each individual event final, and Chiles was behind both Simone Biles and Suni Lee.
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She missed out on the vault final for the same reason, finishing fourth in qualifying but behind Biles and Jade Carey. Chiles did make the floor final.
“The two-per-country thing is — I don’t like it but, you know,” Chiles said.
Some gymnasts might have pouted or let their frustration affect their performance. Not Chiles. She is the ultimate team player, the hype woman who is screaming for her teammates or dancing to keep them entertained when she’s not competing.
When the numbers showed that the Americans’ highest possible score came from her doing all four events, she was all in.
“It was good for her,” said Cecile Landi, who in addition to being the U.S. coach is Chiles’ personal coach at the World Champions Centre outside Houston. “She loves competing. She loves it.”
The leadoff role is tough. It sets the tone for the rest of the rotation. Do well, and the team feeds off it. Struggle, and it puts pressure on the remaining two gymnasts.
Chiles delivered solid scores on both vault and uneven bars. Though she had a fall on balance beam, she closed with a fabulous floor routine set to a medley of Beyonce songs.
Many gymnasts might as well be tumbling to elevator music for as much as they acknowledge it. But Chiles puts on a show, oozing personality and charisma in a performance that would do Queen Bey proud. She was rewarded with a 8.166 for execution, the highest score of the night.
She’s got the tough tricks, too, her 5.8 difficulty score tied for fourth-highest in the meet.
Of the 10 gymnasts who did the all-around, Chiles had the fourth-highest score. And that was with a fall.
“It was amazing to have her do the all-around and just to show how great she is at gymnastics,” said Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead of the U.S. women’s program. “I love that she was able to do that and contribute so much to the team.”
Few could have predicted this a few months ago.
After Tokyo, Chiles competed at UCLA in the 2022-23 season. But the level of difficulty in college gymnastics is lower than at the elite level, and Chiles struggled to make the transition. She missed the world team last year and had a sub-par Pan Am Games. She began this year dealing with injuries, first to her shoulder, then to her knee.
“A lot of people counted her out,” Landi said. “We told her, you never know until it’s over. So keep working. Keep your head high and we’ll do what we can on our side to help you.”
At the national championships in June, Chiles finished second to Biles. A month later, she was third at the Olympic trials and earned her second trip to the Summer Games.
“She did the work,” Landi said, “and she’s an Olympic champion now.”
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