Jordan Chiles at 25 years old has singularly accomplished more professionally to date than some entire family bloodlines.
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Chiles, a two-time Olympian and 2024 Paris Games gold medal-winning gymnast, is a four-time NCAA gymnastics champion, a New York Times best-selling author, founder of a girl’s mentorship program and former Time Woman of the Year. Yet even as she navigates a daily schedule that often ping-pongs between a steady stream of media interviews, grueling training sessions and various brand appearances, she is also finishing up her last few weeks of college.
The UCLA senior is set to graduate with a degree in African American studies in June.
What may sound like a dizzying lifestyle to some to Chiles is par for the course in achieving her loftiest goals across sports and beyond. The frenetic pace coupled with consistent outsized expectations from those around her is something, Chiles says, she was born to do.
“When I was little, I never had imaginary friends — I always had imaginary dreams,” Chiles told NBC News. “I am named after Michael Jordan. So I took his namesake very, very to heart and wanted to be like, ‘If he’s Michael Jordan, why can’t I be Jordan Childs?’”
While many professional athletes competing at the highest levels of their sports wait to build their brand identities after retiring, Chiles has been intent on making all of her dreams come true, seemingly at once.
Chiles, a native of Oregon, said wants to act in television shows and blockbuster movies. She wants to own businesses that have an impact. She also wants to be known as a philanthropist who inspires the next generation.
“It’s pretty crazy that I’ve done so much in the time span of me only being 25 years old,” she said. “I’m very proud of myself, but I know I have a lot more to do.”
Late last year she and her professional dance partner, Ezra Sosa, finished third in the “Dancing with the Stars” competition finale. Now, she’s on tour with the show. Last month, Chiles ended her collegiate career by winning the NCAA floor exercise title, the second in her career. She wrote an emotional post on Instagram, thanking UCLA for “giving me the best 4 years of my life.”
Chiles’ college coach, Janelle McDonald, called her one of the best athletes the program has ever seen.
“She is an inspiring example of hard work and what it takes to show excellence in all you do,” said McDonald, head gymnastics coach at UCLA. “She uses her platform and our beautiful sport to show that when you have joy in what you do and are celebrated for being who you are, greatness is possible.”
More recently, Chiles partnered with drink company Pure Leaf to promote the brand’s new Mental Focus beverage, which, she said, has been instrumental in helping her push through her busiest days. The campaign includes a collaboration with a digital wellness app that Chiles swears by called Brick, which temporarily blocks applications on a user’s phone, enabling maximum focus. Partnering with brands that make sense in her own day-to-day life, she said, builds trust with her supporters.
“If you have a connection and if you know it’s authentic to your brand, trust it,” she said.
At the center of all of those moves, Chiles said, is a desire to pour into others the way she has been poured into throughout her career. That’s a large part of the reason she started the Shero Athlete Collective, a platform that supports young female athletes through mentorship on and off the mat.
“I would love to leave a legacy like Beyoncé or Whitney Houston,” Chiles said, adding, “but I want to leave a legacy outside of my sport.”
Her borderline insatiable desire to do more for others, she said, is rooted in learning as much as possible about the world around her. It also plays a major role in why Chiles is majoring in African American studies at a time, she acknowledged, when Black history education efforts are being rolled back across academia and within both local and federal sectors.
“The reason why I wanted to choose African American studies was more so I could understand a little more, so I can help my community,” she said. “I can help others learn and help others really look into the reality of things and understand that everybody is human and it sucks to say that it does come down to black and white.”
The stark reality of complex race relations remains a foundational element of the U.S., according to Cheryl L. Keyes, chair of the UCLA African American studies department. Learning to grapple with “the good, the bad and the ugly,” she said, is something she believes all students should want to be more informed about. And given the rigor of the major, Keyes said she is “proud” of Chiles and confident she can critically engage with the totality of the African American experience.
“This country is about freedom of expression,” Keyes said. “It’s about knowing the people around you and wanting to know their history. … It’s really an honor to know that it has helped shape who she is.”
Keyes called Chiles an inspiration to all women, but especially African American women.
Of course, Chiles built her reputation with success on the gym mat. She earned team gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics and team silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
But even bigger than any single performance, for her most vocal supporters, it’s the way and manner in which she has succeeded. Chiles, to many people, has changed the way both die-hard and casual fans see women in the sport. It’s the inch-long, freshly manicured acrylic nails she competes with, the two dozen tattoos dotting her body as a canvas as she flips through the air and her unique and intricate choreography on the mat infused with hip–hop and Beyoncé anthems that tell a story during her floor routines.
For Annie Heffernon, vice president of the women’s program at USA Gymnastics, what makes Chiles’ journey special is that she has done it her own way while staying “authentically herself.”
“Her energy, individuality and expression — both in training and competition — have resonated in the gymnastics community and has helped broaden how people see the sport,” Heffernon said. “She’s shown that excellence and individuality are not mutually exclusive, and that has had a powerful impact not only within our program but across the gymnastics community.”
As Chiles, a former Sports Illustrated cover star, continues to see the network appearances and brand deals pile up, she has new aspirations that grow almost daily.
First, she plans to finish college. Then, she said, she plans to decide whether she’s going to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics, which are being held in the same city as her soon to be alma mater, Los Angeles.
“I think about it all the time,” Chiles said. “It’s really more about physically for me than it is mentally. So we’ll see what happens.”
Whatever she decides, Heffernon said, Chiles’ imprint has been solidified through her consistency, confidence and leadership.
“She’s embraced the journey, including the challenges, and turned those experiences into strengths,” Heffernon said. “Today, at 25, she brings a level of self-assurance and perspective that contributes to a strong, supportive team environment.”
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