Despite missing the P&G Championships with an injury, Vancouver gymnast Jordan Chiles has again been named to the USA Gymnastics Women’s Junior National Team. The team was announced at the conclusion of the national championships in St. Louis.
“It felt really good. It just made me feel real good about everything,” Chiles said. “I know the USA Gymnastics committee really thinks I can do things more than just what I’ve done. They believe in my potential.”
The 2016-17 cycle is the fourth consecutive time Chiles has been selected for the junior national team. Chiles, 15, just completed her freshman year at Prairie High School. She trains at Naydenov Gymnastics in Vancouver.
Chiles was not able to compete over the weekend at the P&G Championships. She suffered a knee injury, diagnosed as a deep bruise, while training last week. She said she hyper-extended her knee while training on the vault, but she plans to return to training this week before taking a break.
Watching the competition at the P&G was a different experience, she said.
“It was an experience to see how people watch us in the stands,” she said. “But I still wanted to compete.”
Chiles said she figured it was 50-50 that she would make the team. She got the news while she was in the audience for the juniors finals via a text message that asked her to come to the arena floor.
In early June, Chiles won the vault and placed fourth all-around in the juniors competition at the U.S. Secret Classic in Hartford, Conn.
Chiles is too young by less than five months to represent the United States at the Olympics this summer. She will become a senior gymnast beginning with the 2017-18 cycle.
Chiles has represented the United States three times, including at a pair of international meets in the spring. At the City of Jesolo Trophy meet in Italy in March she was the all-around champion and the vault champion.
In addition to training with coaches Erika Bakacs and Dimitri Taskov at Naydenov, Chiles makes regular trips to the National Team Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch in Huntsville, Texas.
The next training camp for the junior national team is in September. No competitions have yet been scheduled for the junior national team for the 2016-17 cycle.
