Why Jordan Chiles Decided to Compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics

Jordan Chiles will always be able to call herself an Olympic athlete, but she didn’t know at first if she wanted to go for the gold in Paris this year.

“It took me a while to really understand if I really wanted to go to the Olympics or not,” Chiles, 23, told Us Weekly exclusively months before the 2024 Games kicked off in July. “I felt like, ‘If I go back, what if I disappoint people?’ If I go back, they’re going to think I need to do this, that, and the other.”

Chiles revealed in June that she almost quit gymnastics altogether due to the lack of diversity in the sport. Ultimately, however, she put her collegiate career at UCLA on hold after last season to lock in for the 2024 Olympics — and she took a note from Beyoncé to remember, “I’m that girl.”

“Just seeing the resilience [Beyoncé] had within herself to become this amazing person. She didn’t have to look back on other people’s opinions,” Chiles told Us while promoting her partnership with Oikos, Activia and Too Good & Co. before the Olympics. “She didn’t have to do any of those things and just kept to herself. So the pressure kind of wore off right now, I don’t have to prove to anybody. I am always forever going to be an Olympian.”

Now, Chiles can also call herself a gold medalist. Team USA won the women’s team all-around event on Tuesday, July 30, in Paris after placing second in the same event at the Tokyo Games. Chiles was also on hand to support her teammates Simone Biles and Suni Lee, who took home gold and bronze, respectively, in the individual all-around on Thursday, August 1. She’ll return to the mat for the women’s floor exercise final before the end of the Paris Games.

Team USA’s result was an ending years in the making for Chiles, who endured the grind of prepping for the Olympics with the help of Oikos, Activia and Too Good & Co. She teamed up with fellow Olympians Sha’Carri Richardson and Kristie Mewis for the campaign as the brands joined forces to create drinkable yogurts and dairy drinks to support athletes on the move.

“This campaign has been amazing,” Chiles told Us. “I’m hustling in the gym every single day, 24/7. It’s long weekends, long weeks. I was really happy I was able to join and be a part of it because I feel like being able to get the right nutrients within your body and put it out into the world that it’s OK to have those times where you may have to take a snack on the go or whatever.”

Chiles also touted the three grams of sugar and 10 grams of protein in the drinks, which helped keep her moving. As she put it, “I’m always a hustler, so I’m going to keep hustling no matter what.”

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi