Simone Biles’ NCAA Gymnastics Battle Resurfaces as BFF Jordan Chiles Powers UCLA Into the Semi-Finals

If you’re a gymnastics fan, April 2025 is hitting you with a double dose of jaw-dropping action and straight-up nostalgia! Jordan Chiles—yep, the Olympic champ—Tokyo 2020 team silver medalist, Paris 2024 gold medalist, and Simone Biles’ ride-or-die bestie—just lit up Pauley Pavilion on April 5, 2025, powering UCLA into the NCAA Gymnastics Championship semi-finals. We’re talking a near-perfect 9.975 on floor, where she brought that signature rock-star swagger, flipping and twisting like she owns the mat (because, let’s be real, she kinda does). Then she stuck a 9.950 on vault, soaring with the kind of power that’s had Bruins fans losing their minds all season. UCLA’s team score?

A hefty 197.825, enough to punch their ticket to the next round and keep their championship dreams alive. This isn’t just another collegiate flex—it’s a moment that drags us right back to Simone Biles’ teenage crossroads, spilled out in raw detail in her 2016 memoir Courage to Soar.

Picture a 14-year-old Simone, hunched over salmon and rice at the family dinner table in Spring, Texas, dodging her mom’s relentless question: “Which way are you leaning, Simone?” High school with her crew or homeschooling for elite gymnastics glory? Her parents gave her the wheel, but the deadline was looming—by Sunday, she had to decide, with the new school year creeping closer. Now, as Chiles dominates the NCAA scene in front of a roaring crowd, wearing that UCLA blue and gold Simone once dreamed of rocking herself, you can’t help but wonder: how does Biles’ past decision amplify the stakes of Chiles’ current run?

Flashback to Courage to Soar, and you’ll find a young Simone at the dinner table, dodging her mom’s question: “Which way are you leaning, Simone?” She’d shrug, frustrated, torn between prom nights and podium dreams. Her parents, Ron and Nellie, laid it out straight—public school in Texas meant ditching elite gymnastics thanks to strict attendance rules, while homeschooling opened the door to national team camps and international meets. Simone pushed back hard, insisting, “I can do both!”—a fire we’ve seen in Chiles too.

Olympics: Gymnastics Aug 5, 2024 Paris, France Simone Biles of the United States poses for a photo with her three gold and one silver medal after day three of the gymnastics event finals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games. Paris Bercy Arena France, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xKylexTeradax 20240805_jcd_usa_3952

But reality hit: elite gymnasts like Katelyn Ohashi, who balanced school and stardom in Dallas, were the exception, not the rule. Biles’ dad, Ron, wasn’t buying it, telling her, “The public school system in the state of Texas won’t allow you to miss as many days as you’ll have to miss if you make the national team.” That fork in the road led Simone to homeschool and, eventually, Olympic history—four golds in Rio 2016 alone. Meanwhile, Chiles chose UCLA after Tokyo 2020, racking up NCAA titles in 2023 (uneven bars and floor). So, how did Simone’s sacrifice shape the path Jordan’s blazing now?

Jordan Chiles’ UCLA Journey akin to a Gymnastics Odyssey Through Triumph and Time Off

Jordan Chiles’ UCLA journey is the kind of rollercoaster that keeps you glued to the edge of your seat! Kicking things off in 2022, Chiles burst onto the collegiate scene as a freshman phenom for the Bruins, fresh off her Tokyo 2020 Olympic team silver. That first year, she was already flexing her elite skills, snagging two perfect 10s on floor and one on uneven bars, while racking up 23 scores of 9.9 or higher—talk about setting the Pauley Pavilion on fire! Her sophomore year in 2023? Absolute domination.

Chiles clinched NCAA individual titles on uneven bars and floor exercise, hitting a perfect 10 on bars and a near-flawless 9.975 on floor at the championships in Fort Worth. She also nabbed second in the all-around with a 39.7125, just 0.05 shy of the top spot, and led UCLA with 40 event wins, including five perfect 10s across the season. Her career-high all-around score of 39.9 still ranks No. 2 in UCLA history. But here’s the twist—after that stellar 2023 run, Chiles hit pause on her junior year to chase Olympic gold again, deferring her NCAA season to train at the World Champions Centre in Texas with Simone Biles. So, how did that break shake up her path?

Alright, let’s rewind to 2023—Chiles made the gutsy call to step away from UCLA, trading Pauley Pavilion for the grind in Spring, Texas. Why? Paris 2024 was calling, and she wasn’t about to let it go to voicemail. Announced via Gymnastics Now on March 8, 2023, she deferred her junior season to focus on elite training under coaches Laurent and Cecile Landi, aiming for her second Olympic shot. Fast forward to July 30, 2024, at Bercy Arena—she delivered, helping Team USA snag team gold alongside Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera.

Paris 2024 Olympics – Artistic Gymnastics – Women’s Floor Exercise Final – Bercy Arena, Paris, France – August 05, 2024. Jordan Chiles of United States in action. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay

Then came the floor final on August 5: Chiles initially placed fifth with a 13.666, but a last-second inquiry from Coach Landi bumped her score to 13.766, landing her the bronze—or so we thought. Cue the chaos—Romania appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), claiming the inquiry was four seconds late, and on August 10, CAS ruled against Chiles, stripping her medal and awarding it to Ana Barbosu. “I was devastated,” Chiles wrote in her memoir I’m That Girl , capturing the gut punch of that moment. She fought back, taking her case to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, but while that battle brews, she didn’t sulk—she roared back to UCLA for 2025. How’s she channeling that Paris drama into her NCAA comeback?

Now, let’s talk 2025—Chiles is back in Westwood, and she’s not messing around! After announcing her return on August 8, 2024, via NBC —“I am returning back to UCLA to represent the Bruins for my two remaining years of college”—she hit the ground tumbling. The season kicked off January 11 at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad, where her Prince-themed floor routine scored a 9.975, setting the tone for a redemption arc. By March 9, against Stanford, she notched a season-high 39.75 all-around, helping UCLA clinch the Big Ten title with a record 198.450 team score.

That meet also saw history: Chiles, Brooklyn Moors, and Ciena Alipio each scored perfect 10s—UCLA’s first Big Ten trio to do so, per the team’s X post on March 25. “Walking into the routine, I was like, this is Rock Star Jordan,” she told ESPN’s Charlotte Gibson (March 31, 2025), radiating the confidence that’s fueled her 11 career perfect 10s at UCLA. Post-Paris, she’s been a hype machine too—teammate Emma Malabuyo said, “She’s involved in nearly every performance,” per ESPN. With her junior year peaking at the NCAA semi-finals on April 5 (9.975 on floor, 9.950 on vault), Chiles has one more year of eligibility left for 2026. What’s she got planned for that final Bruin chapter?