Jordan Chiles Reveals New Details On Paris Olympics Medal Incident In Her Recently-Released Memoir
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Gymnast Jordan Chiles made history last year on the first-ever all-Black podium at the Olympics — but the moment was short-lived, as Chiles was stripped of her medal after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) stated that the appeal arrived four seconds too late. Now, Chiles is rewriting the narrative on the controversial incident as one of the opening stories in her new memoir, I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams.
Featuring never-before-shared details of her athletic journey from a gymnastics-loving 6-year-old to a two-time Olympian with gold and silver medals, Chiles says of the ruling in the book: “One of the most challenging moments of my career. Believe me when I say I have had many.” But now, with a renewed focus on being a UCLA student-athlete, I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams reflects back on the support from, and relationships with, her Team U.S.A. teammates, including her best friend and “big sister” Simone Biles (who wrote the foreword for the book).
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Although it just released on March 4, I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams is already an Amazon bestseller, sitting at #1 as of this writing in Olympic Games, sharing shelf space with other recent memoir releases such as Bill Gates.
The book details Chiles’ challenges throughout her career, from facing racism as a gifted Black girl in a predominantly white elite sport, along with sharing new details about her unhealthy relationship with food that she says led to an eating disorder and battles with body image. With the psychologically and physically demanding practices of women’s gymnastics, Chiles chronicles how she almost called it quits, but refused to give up — especially when Biles stepped away from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after a case of the “twisties,” and Chiles stepped in to play a key role in securing silver for Team USA.
In an interview with Good Morning America to discuss her new book, Chiles said, “I’m doing way better than I was when it first happened,” reflecting on the medal controversy. “I can only do so much for myself is really focus on my mental. I’m gonna continue to fight and understand that I can only control what I can do with myself and let everything else just be on the back end — whether my lawyer and attorney are doing to continue to fight for that,” she added.
And if she can’t get the bronze medal back? “I can’t control what happens at the end of the day, I just know what’s right with me — and going to continue to look forward,” she said. Chiles, now competing for another year at UCLA, is taking her time to live in the moment, and wrote this book, “to show the world that it took me 23 years to get into this position that I am in right now, being a two-time Olympian, a world champion and many more other accolades. People can say a lot of things about you and create a story, but why not tell your story the right way?”. The Audible audiobook is narrated by Jordan Chiles herself along with Angel Pean.