Jordan Chiles has never fit the traditional mold of an elite gymnast—and she knows it. From struggling without a coach in her early years to being overlooked for major teams, she has faced setbacks that could have ended her career. Instead, she pushed through, becoming an Olympic Gold medalist and a key figure in NCAA gymnastics. But was she ever truly an outsider—or just ahead of her time? Now, as she revisits the challenges that shaped her, she has something to say to the gymnastics community.
Jordan Chiles has never conformed—and she’s not about to start now, and she’s done trying. “I was the black sheep of everything,” she said on the Casuals with Katie Nolan podcast on March 7 “People didn’t expect me to get a medal. People didn’t expect me to be that good.” From the start of her career, she was doubted. But Chiles refuses to apologize for who she is. “I’m the one painting the picture. I’m the one who’s constantly on the floor. Why can’t you guys accept the fact that that’s me?” she asks. “Why do I have to be somebody else?” Through every challenge, she remained true to herself. “I was always trying to be a better version of myself each and every day. Whether I did get teared down, whether I did get, you know, shown something totally different, whether people didn’t like the way I danced or the way I chose my music or my hair or something like that.
Now, she’s embracing the label she once resisted. “If I’m still the black sheep, I will continue to be the black sheep, because it has done me wonders,” Chiles declares. “It has done me a million different things that I can stand right here, right now, and say, you are the reason why Jordan Chiles is Jordan Chiles.”
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The post ‘Black Sheep’: Jordan Chiles Delivers Bold Message to Gymnastics Community Amid Revisiting Career’s Past Trauma appeared first on EssentiallySports.
