Can Jordan Chiles end her career with an NCAA team title?

JORDAN CHILES DIDN'T initially commit to UCLA because of the program's seven national championships, legendary floor routines, or even the school's academic reputation.

Sure, those things helped, but it was something else that pushed UCLA immediately to the top of her list.

It was Jamba Juice.

Chiles was -- and still is -- obsessed with the smoothie chain and she couldn't believe there was a location right on campus. Her mind was made up. She was in eighth grade at the time but insists that it would have been a factor no matter at what age she toured colleges.

Chiles, who turns 25 on Wednesday, is now entering the final week of her storied NCAA career. Throughout her four years in college, which saw a one-year hiatus ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in which she earned a gold medal with the United States team, Chiles has won three individual NCAA titles and helped lead the Bruins to back-to-back Big Ten titles.

And her senior season has been her best one yet: She took home the Big Ten all-around title last month, in addition to earning the top spot on uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. She was named the conference's Gymnast of the Year. She has done all of it while balancing a barrage of external opportunities, including appearing on "Dancing with the Stars" in the fall. She has become a bona fide celebrity, bringing record crowds to meets across the country.

The original Jamba Juice in the student union has since closed, replaced by a robot-run kiosk version, but Chiles couldn't be happier with the decision she made all those years ago. She credits the school and her team for helping her become the woman she is today.

"My freshman self would be amazed by the transformation and growth," Chiles said. "She wouldn't believe all the things I did, all the things I learned, and then how I developed as a person in that time span while I've been [at UCLA]. I wish she could know the amazing legacy she's going to leave and that she's going to enjoy every moment."

When the national semifinals take place Thursday, with UCLA in the night session (9 ET on ESPN2) against top-ranked Oklahoma, Arkansas and Minnesota, Chiles will enter the competition with just one piece of unfinished business remaining.

"Bringing home a national championship would mean everything," she said. "For me, it would have taken four years to get it. I mean, I'm already an individual NCAA champion, but now I'm at a point where it's all about the team. That trophy isn't just for me; it's for every single person that was able to come and be a part of what the Bruins are all about. And I think allowing us to love one another, allowing us to respect one another, being as united as we are, that's really what goes into that trophy."

WHEN UCLA COACH Janelle McDonald took the job in the spring of 2022, she had no idea what to expect.

The Bruins had just had a shocking early exit in the NCAA regionals and the morale was low. Chiles, then a freshman, had been a bright spot for the team throughout the up-and-down season with three perfect 10.0 scores on the year. McDonald was friends with Chiles' club coach, Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, now the head coach at Georgia, and knew Chiles had a "big personality." McDonald was hopeful she could get Chiles on board, but she simply didn't know how receptive she would be to a new coach.

But McDonald didn't have to wonder for long.

"From day one, Jordan gave me a chance to build trust and to just really be able to make this program my own, but also do it with them hand in hand," McDonald told ESPN. "And I think that's something that I've always really appreciated about her is that she really just right away dove into the vision I had for this team and where we were headed and that she wanted to be a helping hand in that transition and that process."

McDonald believes Chiles' buy-in helped get the rest of the team on board to accept her as well. Even though Chiles was already a star in the gymnastics world and an Olympic silver medalist from the 2020 Games, she emphasized a team-first mentality that McDonald said was contagious.

"Being the caliber of athlete that she is and still just wanting what was best for the team each and every day, she has helped the entire team see it more clearly," McDonald said. "Having a leader like Jordan, who teaches all of these values to the newcomers who come in, that's how you build a long-lasting team culture."

It didn't take long for the results to follow. UCLA reached the semifinals at the 2023 NCAA championships, narrowly missing the chance to advance to the final, and Chiles won the NCAA individual event titles on both bars and floor, and finished in second place in the all-around.

With McDonald's full approval, Chiles then decided to defer her junior season to focus on making her second Olympic team. The choice paid off. She not only was named to the team but helped win gold, alongside Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera. She even qualified for her first event final on floor. Of course, what happened next is well known: Chiles initially finished in fifth place with a score of 13.666, but a last-second inquiry with the judges changed the score to 13.766 and earned her the bronze medal. Chiles was thrilled and her podium ode to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade alongside Biles, who earned silver, went viral. It was the first Olympic podium in the sport's history featuring three Black women.

But days later, Chiles' triumph took an unprecedented and nightmarish turn as the results were overturned following an appeal by the Romanian federation. The Court of Arbitration for Sport determined Chiles' inquiry had not been filed in time following her floor routines, and the medal was then awarded to Ana Barbosu.

Nearly two years later, the case remains in legal limbo with the American federation still fighting for Chiles to regain what it believes is rightfully hers.

For Chiles, it has been a devastating ordeal, and one that has played out in front of the world. She has been open about the emotional toll it has taken and some of the racist comments she has received online. But she has also resolved that the heartbreak would not diminish her joy.

"At the end of the day, if you allow yourself to look at yourself in the mirror and just be OK with what you're going through in that moment, then you can kind of carry on with the rest of your life," Chiles said when speaking generally about what she has learned over the past few years. "... Not everything is meant for you, not everything is meant to be in your possession, but at the end of the day, it's life. You grow from it, you learn from it and you kind of just take every single thing and allow yourself to continue to write your story."

Her positivity and grace in interviews and appearances earned her a slew of new fans. In 2025, she was one of four women to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated's famed swimsuit issue (former LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne was also given the honor) and she was named one of Time Magazine's Women of the Year. She released her memoir, "I'm That Girl," in 2025.

Following a stellar return season, in which she helped lead the Bruins to a surprise runner-up finish in the 2025 team competition and earned another individual title on bars, Chiles was asked to appear on the upcoming season of "Dancing with the Stars."

She was excited about the opportunity and determined to make it work while also participating in preseason practices and activities with her teammates. Because of previous elite and post-Olympic "Gold Over America" tour commitments, she had never been able to be on campus for preseason in her first three years, and she wanted to be a part of it during her senior season.

"I think having a team that understood what my passion was and what I was trying to do, being able to be on 'Dancing with the Stars' and school and all of these things, made it all possible," Chiles said. "Everything was still very team oriented. I tried to support as much as I could during preseason, and they were supporting me as well. The girls came to shows and got to really enjoy the moments with me."

McDonald was simultaneously thrilled and slightly skeptical when Chiles and her mom, Gina, approached her about the idea, but was quickly convinced. It didn't hurt that the show filmed just 15 minutes away from UCLA.

"Both Jordan and her mom said the producers would work around her schedule, and then I thought, 'Well, if anyone can do all of this, it's Jordan,'" McDonald said. "She handled it all beautifully."

Chiles made it all the way to the show's finale with her partner, Ezra Sosa. They ultimately finished in third but the run, and a viral freestyle dance, made Chiles a mainstream and social media star.

Behind the scenes, she balanced as many team practices and events as she could, as well as online coursework for her African American studies major. Her days were long, often involving leaving her apartment around 9 a.m. and getting back after 9 p.m. She made it look easy, but she admitted it was stressful and exhausting.

"It was fun and I really enjoyed all of it. Would I do it again? Probably not," she said.

Chiles later clarified that she would do all of it again -- just not at the same time.

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Game On: The Floor Party

BJ Das uses her prior experience dancing with Miley Cyrus and Avril Lavigne to come up with UCLA's stunning floor routines.

By the time the season came around in January, Chiles was excited to finally focus on gymnastics. UCLA was ranked as the preseason No. 4, and with a crop of talented and heavily recruited freshmen, Chiles was ready to take on even more of a leadership role.

This season, she has been nothing short of prolific. Chiles has earned eight perfect 10.0 scores on the season and had a streak of five straight meets earning the mark. She arrives in Fort Worth as the top-ranked floor performer in the nation and the No. 2-ranked all-arounder. She is in the top four on every event. The Bruins have an 18-2 record, losing to just Oklahoma and LSU in the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad in January. The team rolled through the rest of the season, including all of their conference competition, undefeated.

Chiles is quick to credit her teammates for their success.

"This team has fought for everything we've achieved," she said. "I remember one meet there were six or seven people out sick, and knowing we had people that were able to step right up in those positions meant everything."

But it hasn't been just the wins -- Chiles has an incredible 48 event titles on the year -- or the show-stopping, made-for-the-internet floor routines that have defined Chiles' final year. Averaging nearly 9,000 fans for home meets at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins helped break attendance records at nearly every road meet this season as well. McDonald believes most of that was because of Chiles.

"She brought so many new eyes this year to NCAA gymnastics," McDonald said. "So many 'Dancing with the Stars' fans would show up to see her do her gymnastics, wherever we went. It's been so cool to be a part of this journey and see the impact she's made on this sport."

In March, at a meet at Stanford, a record number of fans were in the crowd, marking the program's first sellout since 2019. Chiles put the spotlight to good use as she danced along and cheered during the floor routine of Barbosu, now a freshman for the Cardinal. After the meet, the pair -- who tied for fourth that day with a 9.9 score -- embraced and posed for photos. McDonald said she believed there were nerves on both sides going into the competition, but Chiles' actions exemplified who she is.

"It just showed so much leadership, so much sportsmanship, and really what NCAA gymnastics is all about," McDonald said. "To let her guard down and be able to celebrate [Barbosu], and vice versa, and then be in each other's corners when the world probably couldn't see how that was possible, it was just a special moment.

"And I couldn't help but crack up because I didn't even know Jordan knew her floor routine, but of course she does."

TWO SUNDAYS AGO, Chiles took a deep breath and appeared to wipe away tears as she stood with UCLA associate head coach and team choreographer BJ Das.

Competing as the last gymnast of the night at the NCAA regional finals in Corvallis, Oregon, the Bruins' season -- and her collegiate career -- was potentially on the line. She knew what the moment meant. She briefly motioned her hands together like a heart before she stood in her opening position. She breathed again, and then she was ready.

For the next 90 seconds, Chiles did what she has become known for. She wowed the crowd with a high-spirited and high-flying routine, set to a medley of music from Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and others. A smile spread across her face as soon as she stuck her opening double layout tumbling pass.

Before the routine was over, Chiles was crying, and she put her head in her hands as soon as she had completed her final pose. When her score -- another perfect 10.0 -- was announced, she rocked back and forth while sitting on the floor before falling backward and lying on her back, overcome with emotion. The tears continued as she stood up to celebrate with her teammates.

Chiles hadn't just extended the team's season and her own, she had given the Bruins their first NCAA regional title in seven years.

She then ran over to the Minnesota team, which had also qualified for nationals, to congratulate them. Chiles' teammates followed and the two Big Ten Conference foes celebrated their accomplishment together.

The late-meet heroics, spontaneous camaraderie, and the unfiltered joy of it all was perhaps the perfect encapsulation of Chiles' NCAA career.

"She's just a very special human being," McDonald said. "Everything she does, not just gymnastics, is done at an elite level and with such passion. She encourages and inspires everyone around her. ... There's not going to be another Jordan Chiles, or anyone quite like her, probably ever, but her impact on this sport will be felt for a very long time."

Chiles will now have to bring all of that energy and flawless gymnastics to Fort Worth. Beyond that, she is unsure of what her future holds. She is on track to complete her undergraduate degree in 2027 and is committed to that, but she is uncertain about returning to elite gymnastics or pursuing other opportunities. She is waiting to have a gut feeling to guide her but simply hasn't had it (or the time for it) yet.

For now, Chiles, the queen of the multitask, remains focused solely on winning the national championship with her team and enjoying every moment of the experience. She wants nothing more than to bring the trophy back to Westwood and give her college career the perfect ending. She predicted there will be "a lot of tears" if the team is successful.

But, as much as she wants it, Chiles doesn't believe her standing in the sport needs a national championship for validation, nor is it what she would ultimately be remembered for.

"The legacy I hope I leave isn't just in my gymnastics," Chiles said. "I can flip all day long, but I don't think there's anything I would be more proud of than being remembered for the personality I brought into the sport, and the way I could bring in the crowd and make them feel.

"I want people to remember me as being authentic to myself every time I stepped onto the competition floor, and the girl that took photos with them, signed autographs, stayed after meets and made jokes, and was just truly who she was."