Not yet fully recovered from a flu bug that sent her fever spiking to 104 degrees earlier in the week, Olympian Jordan Chiles soared to her second perfect 10 of the college gymnastics season Saturday in UCLA’s upset of No. 5 Michigan State.
With her Prince-themed floor exercise, Chiles helped UCLA rally in the meet’s final rotation.
‘It’s not fun,’ she said of competing while not feeling her best, ‘but I knew in that moment that no matter what, how strong I am and I have people around me that can help me and support me. At the end of the day, we’re going to just keep pushing forward and I knew what my role was.’
Chiles was a key contributor on the U.S. Olympic gymnastics squad that won the women’s team gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
She also won an individual bronze medal in the floor exercise following a challenge to a judge’s score on one of the elements in her routine. However, she was later bumped back down to fifth after the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) ruled the challenge was submitted four seconds too late.
Chiles was asked to return her bronze medal, but she hasn’t yet while filing two separate appeals with the Swiss Federal Tribunal in an attempt to overturn the CAS’s ruling.
After sitting out the 2024 collegiate gymnastics season to train for the Olympics, Chiles, 23, has returned to school for her junior year at UCLA.
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