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Louise Thomas
Editor
Jordan Chiles’ family had the internet in tears at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The 23-year-old, along with her fellow USA teammates Simone Biles and Suni Lee, scored a gold medal win during the women’s gymnastics team finals on July 30. As Chiles took to the mat for her final Olympic event on Tuesday, the gymnast delivered an electrifying floor routine that had her family jumping for joy in the stands.
Chiles stared directly at the camera and gave viewers a wink during her floor routine, which was set to a mashup of Beyoncé tracks. At the end of her dazzling performance, she appeared to become emotional and quickly let out a cry, before returning to her teammates.
The camera then cut to Chiles’ parents, Timothy and Gina Chiles, who were visibly emotional themselves. Her mother Gina was seen covering her face as she burst into tears. Meanwhile, her father Timothy slapped his chest in excitement and raised his hands in the air.
Chiles earned a 13.966 for the floor routine, marking the third-best performance of the day.
Following the event, an image of the gymnast’s parents supporting her from the stands went viral on X, formerly Twitter. In the comments, fans expressed how they became emotional watching Chiles’ parents support their daughter during the milestone moment.
“Had me in tears with them!!!” one viewer said on the platform. “Ugh love this for her!!! GO USA!!!!”
“This is when I started crying,” another fan captioned the viral photo of Timothy and Gina.
“If you didn’t get goosebumps watching her parents, you’re not human,” said someone else, while another X user wrote: “The absolute best reactions!”
At age six, Chiles’ parents signed their daughter up for gymnastics classes, after Timothy had spent a week alone with the high-energy adolescent while her mom was away on a business trip, according to a 2021 interview with the New York Times.
“My parents could not keep me from cartwheeling down the aisle of any open space or walking on my hands instead of my feet. People kept asking if I was in gymnastics. I had a lot of energy! So they put me in gym,” Chiles told the USA Gymnastics website.
According to a recent Teen Vogue profile, both Chiles’ parents are pastors. While she’s originally from Vancouver, Washington, Chiles relocated to Texas after her high school graduation for her gymnastics career. She and her mother moved to the Lone Star State to join Biles’ gym, the World Champions Centre, where Chiles began training with coaches Cecile and Laurent Landi.
“My family had to sacrifice a lot of things, especially my siblings, taking me to the gym and doing all these things for me,” Chiles told Teen Vogue earlier this month. “It’s been like that my whole life. But now, I try to shy away from all of that attention. I was that center when I was younger and I want to give everybody else that attention now.”
The gymnast is the youngest of five children. In addition to Chiles, the couple – who were married in 1994 – are parents to daughters Jazmin and Jade, and sons Tajmen and Tyrus.
Chiles made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she earned a silver medal. After Chiles secured her spot on the US women’s gymnastics team for the Paris 2024 games, her mother Gina took to Instagram to congratulate her daughter on the accomplishment.
“What an incredible journey Jordan. Let’s GOOOOOO!!!!! #paris2024,” she began her post, shared earlier this month. “My favorite part was watching you mature as you fought for your dream. It was hard and uncomfortable but you trusted God, yourself and your coaches. Instead of giving up you pushed harder.”
During Tuesday’s all-around team final, Biles also made history as the most decorated American Olympic gymnast with eight medals.
The competition continues on Thursday, August 1, with the women’s all-around final, followed by the individual event finals from Saturday, August 3, through Monday, August 5. From Team USA, only Biles and Lee will compete in the all-around final competition.
