A Vancouver native and Prairie High School grad helped bring home the gold for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team at the women’s team final Tuesday.
Before executing an electrifying floor routine, Jordan Chiles raised her right fist in the air, stared straight into a television camera and winked, radiating confidence.
When she hit her final pose, the 23-year-old closed her eyes and held back tears as her family cheered her on from the audience.
At Naydenov Gymnastics in Vancouver, Chiles’ colleagues and past coaches also erupted in applause.
“We gathered around and watched and cheered for Jordan and Team USA,” said Randi Milliner, a former coach.
Chiles enrolled at Naydenov Gymnastics when she was 6 years old.
“Her initial coaches spotted her very young and pulled her into the team that would best suit her to help her climb up the levels quickly,” Milliner said. “They poured into her everything they had to get her shaped and molded into the gymnast that she became.”
While attending Pleasant Valley Middle School, Chiles was one of nine girls ages 11-15 in the United States who held USA Gymnastics junior international elite status.
Her coaches always knew she would go far.
“A lot of discipline and time and devotion and sacrifice went into it,” Milliner said. “Everyone here is very proud. She had a great start here at Naydenov.”
Now, Chiles is a hero to many of the young gymnasts at Naydenov and throughout Vancouver.
Milliner added that her daughter, also a gymnast, was “so inspired” after watching Chiles’ routine.
“She felt like she could do anything,” Milliner said. “It was like she had a superpower. Knowing that Jordan was in our gym, training with some of these girls — it’s very inspiring.”
Chiles was also on the team that won the silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, along with Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee. This year, the team embarked on a “redemption tour.”
When Chiles returned to Vancouver after winning the silver medal, the city hosted a parade, and Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle presented her with the key to the city. Now, McEnerny-Ogle thinks another parade is in order.
“Not often do we have a gold medalist in our little neck of the woods,” she said.
After the team won the gold, McEnerny-Ogle messaged Chiles’ mother, Gina Chiles.
“We enjoyed her wink!” she said, referencing the moment that has since gone viral.
Chiles left Vancouver in 2019 to train alongside Biles at the World Champions Centre in Spring, Texas.
“It was best for her,” Milliner said. “Everyone that has had a hand in her development now has a lot of pride in the part that they played, and excitement for her and Team USA.”
Naydenov manager Chris Castellano, who worked with Chiles when she was a kid, said he hopes the win will bring exposure to local gyms and gymnastics overall. He added that multiple students were excitedly discussing Chiles’ routine Wednesday morning.
“She reached the pinnacle of the sport,” he said. “We played a small part, but she did all the work.”
An International Gymnastics Federation rule will keep Chiles out of Thursday’s All-Around final at the Paris Olympics, despite posting the fourth-highest overall score during qualifying. Chiles will next compete on the floor Monday.
The last gold medalist from Vancouver was skier Gretchen Fraser, who competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics at St. Mortiz in the slalom. Gretchen Fraser Neighborhood Park in east Vancouver is her namesake.
