play6:42Game On: The Floor PartyBJ Das uses her prior experience dancing with Miley Cyrus and Avril Lavigne to come up with UCLA’s stunning floor routines.
Game On: The Floor PartyBJ Das uses her prior experience dancing with Miley Cyrus and Avril Lavigne to come up with UCLA’s stunning floor routines.
BJ Das uses her prior experience dancing with Miley Cyrus and Avril Lavigne to come up with UCLA’s stunning floor routines.
D’Arcy MaineMultiple AuthorsApr 15, 2026, 10:21 AM ET
JORDAN CHILES DIDN’T initially commit to UCLA because of the program’s seven national championships, legendary floor routines, or even the school’s academic reputation.
Sure, those things helped, but it was something else that pushed UCLA immediately to the top of her list.
Chiles was — and still is — obsessed with the smoothie chain and she couldn’t believe there was a location right on campus. Her mind was made up. She was in eighth grade at the time but insists that it would have been a factor no matter at what age she toured colleges.
Chiles, who turns 25 on Wednesday, is now entering the final week of her storied NCAA career. Throughout her four years in college, which saw a one-year hiatus ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in which she earned a gold medal with the United States team, Chiles has won three individual NCAA titles and helped lead the Bruins to back-to-back Big Ten titles.
The original Jamba Juice in the student union has since closed, replaced by a robot-run kiosk version, but Chiles couldn’t be happier with the decision she made all those years ago. She credits the school and her team for helping her become the woman she is today.
“My freshman self would be amazed by the transformation and growth,” Chiles said. “She wouldn’t believe all the things I did, all the things I learned, and then how I developed as a person in that time span while I’ve been [at UCLA]. I wish she could know the amazing legacy she’s going to leave and that she’s going to enjoy every moment.”
When the national semifinals take place Thursday, with UCLA in the night session (9 ET on ESPN2) against top-ranked Oklahoma, Arkansas and Minnesota, Chiles will enter the competition with just one piece of unfinished business remaining.
WHEN UCLA COACH Janelle McDonald took the job in the spring of 2022, she had no idea what to expect.
The Bruins had just had a shocking early exit in the NCAA regionals and the morale was low. Chiles, then a freshman, had been a bright spot for the team throughout the up-and-down season with three perfect 10.0 scores on the year. McDonald was friends with Chiles’ club coach, Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, now the head coach at Georgia, and knew Chiles had a “big personality.” McDonald was hopeful she could get Chiles on board, but she simply didn’t know how receptive she would be to a new coach.
McDonald believes Chiles’ buy-in helped get the rest of the team on board to accept her as well. Even though Chiles was already a star in the gymnastics world and an Olympic silver medalist from the 2020 Games, she emphasized a team-first mentality that McDonald said was contagious.
“Being the caliber of athlete that she is and still just wanting what was best for the team each and every day, she has helped the entire team see it more clearly,” McDonald said. “Having a leader like Jordan, who teaches all of these values to the newcomers who come in, that’s how you build a long-lasting team culture.”
It didn’t take long for the results to follow. UCLA reached the semifinals at the 2023 NCAA championships, narrowly missing the chance to advance to the final, and Chiles won the NCAA individual event titles on both bars and floor, and finished in second place in the all-around.
But days later, Chiles’ triumph took an unprecedented and nightmarish turn as the results were overturned following an appeal by the Romanian federation. The Court of Arbitration for Sport determined Chiles’ inquiry had not been filed in time following her floor routines, and the medal was then awarded to Ana Barbosu.
Nearly two years later, the case remains in legal limbo with the American federation still fighting for Chiles to regain what it believes is rightfully hers.
Her positivity and grace in interviews and appearances earned her a slew of new fans. In 2025, she was one of four women to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s famed swimsuit issue (former LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne was also given the honor) and she was named one of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year. She released her memoir, “I’m That Girl,” in 2025.
Following a stellar return season, in which she helped lead the Bruins to a surprise runner-up finish in the 2025 team competition and earned another individual title on bars, Chiles was asked to appear on the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars.”
“I think having a team that understood what my passion was and what I was trying to do, being able to be on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and school and all of these things, made it all possible,” Chiles said. “Everything was still very team oriented. I tried to support as much as I could during preseason, and they were supporting me as well. The girls came to shows and got to really enjoy the moments with me.”
“Both Jordan and her mom said the producers would work around her schedule, and then I thought, ‘Well, if anyone can do all of this, it’s Jordan,'” McDonald said. “She handled it all beautifully.”
Chiles made it all the way to the show’s finale with her partner, Ezra Sosa. They ultimately finished in third but the run, and a viral freestyle dance, made Chiles a mainstream and social media star.
Behind the scenes, she balanced as many team practices and events as she could, as well as online coursework for her African American studies major. Her days were long, often involving leaving her apartment around 9 a.m. and getting back after 9 p.m. She made it look easy, but she admitted it was stressful and exhausting.
By the time the season came around in January, Chiles was excited to finally focus on gymnastics. UCLA was ranked as the preseason No. 4, and with a crop of talented and heavily recruited freshmen, Chiles was ready to take on even more of a leadership role.
“This team has fought for everything we’ve achieved,” she said. “I remember one meet there were six or seven people out sick, and knowing we had people that were able to step right up in those positions meant everything.”
“She brought so many new eyes this year to NCAA gymnastics,” McDonald said. “So many ‘Dancing with the Stars’ fans would show up to see her do her gymnastics, wherever we went. It’s been so cool to be a part of this journey and see the impact she’s made on this sport.”
“And I couldn’t help but crack up because I didn’t even know Jordan knew her floor routine, but of course she does.”
TWO SUNDAYS AGO, Chiles took a deep breath and appeared to wipe away tears as she stood with UCLA associate head coach and team choreographer BJ Das.
Competing as the last gymnast of the night at the NCAA regional finals in Corvallis, Oregon, the Bruins’ season — and her collegiate career — was potentially on the line. She knew what the moment meant. She briefly motioned her hands together like a heart before she stood in her opening position. She breathed again, and then she was ready.
For the next 90 seconds, Chiles did what she has become known for. She wowed the crowd with a high-spirited and high-flying routine, set to a medley of music from Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and others. A smile spread across her face as soon as she stuck her opening double layout tumbling pass.
Before the routine was over, Chiles was crying, and she put her head in her hands as soon as she had completed her final pose. When her score — another perfect 10.0 — was announced, she rocked back and forth while sitting on the floor before falling backward and lying on her back, overcome with emotion. The tears continued as she stood up to celebrate with her teammates.
Chiles hadn’t just extended the team’s season and her own, she had given the Bruins their first NCAA regional title in seven years.
She then ran over to the Minnesota team, which had also qualified for nationals, to congratulate them. Chiles’ teammates followed and the two Big Ten Conference foes celebrated their accomplishment together.
The late-meet heroics, spontaneous camaraderie, and the unfiltered joy of it all was perhaps the perfect encapsulation of Chiles’ NCAA career.
“She’s just a very special human being,” McDonald said. “Everything she does, not just gymnastics, is done at an elite level and with such passion. She encourages and inspires everyone around her. … There’s not going to be another Jordan Chiles, or anyone quite like her, probably ever, but her impact on this sport will be felt for a very long time.”
For now, Chiles, the queen of the multitask, remains focused solely on winning the national championship with her team and enjoying every moment of the experience. She wants nothing more than to bring the trophy back to Westwood and give her college career the perfect ending. She predicted there will be “a lot of tears” if the team is successful.
But, as much as she wants it, Chiles doesn’t believe her standing in the sport needs a national championship for validation, nor is it what she would ultimately be remembered for.
“The legacy I hope I leave isn’t just in my gymnastics,” Chiles said. “I can flip all day long, but I don’t think there’s anything I would be more proud of than being remembered for the personality I brought into the sport, and the way I could bring in the crowd and make them feel.
“I want people to remember me as being authentic to myself every time I stepped onto the competition floor, and the girl that took photos with them, signed autographs, stayed after meets and made jokes, and was just truly who she was.”
With McDonald’s full approval, Chiles then decided to defer her junior season to focus on making her second Olympic team. The choice paid off. She not only was named to the team but helped win gold, alongside Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera. She even qualified for her first event final on floor. Of course, what happened next is well known: Chiles initially finished in fifth place with a score of 13.666, but a last-second inquiry with the judges changed the score to 13.766 and earned her the bronze medal. Chiles was thrilled and her podium ode to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade alongside Biles, who earned silver, went viral. It was the first Olympic podium in the sport’s history featuring three Black women.