PARIS — Jordan Chiles dismounted from the beam, leapt into the air and punched her first in the direction of her giddy teammates. She did exactly what she was meant to do — as the leadoff hitter, if you will, for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team in Paris, and as the unofficial hype woman for the squad. She nailed her routine and reminded the world that the United States was here for gold.
Two hours later, Chiles walked through the mixed zone, where the media assembles for interviews, her eyes staring straight ahead and her mouth set in a grim line. This is the cruelty of gymnastics told in real-time, of a team sport still fueled with individual goals and a format that rewards performance but at the expense of participation.
Chiles did everything right. She nailed four routines with little more than a bobble. She delivered consistency and consistently to her team, scoring well enough to qualify for the all-around competition under most circumstances. But she finished .067 behind teammate Sunisa Lee, and the rules of the Olympic Games say while the top 24 women qualify, no more than two from each country can compete. Were Chiles representing any other country here in Paris, she would make the all-around final.
Instead, she is the quintessential basketball Sixth Man, the one everyone would start on another roster but is relegated to coming off the bench because of the depth of their team.
And so it will be Lee, the reigning all-around gold medalist, who will join Simone Biles in Thursday’s competition. Chiles will be their hype woman.
“It’s devastating for her,” said Chellsie Memmel, the team’s technical director. “It’s the nature of the sport and it’s unfortunate the two-per-country rule. We knew it was going to be a battle going in, and it really was. Back and forth through the day. It just so happened today was Suni’s day, and that sucks for Jordan. It’s going to take some time, and that’s OK.”
Gymnastics is not alone in this hairbreadth of a difference between joy and disappointment. A fingernail out-touching another might determine gold versus silver in the pool, and a slight lean a winner in track versus a second-place finisher.
But gymnastics’ scoring is subjective. Chiles did not necessarily lose. Lee just did a fraction more right. What, after all, is a .067 difference? A slight balance check on the beam? A bunny hop on a landing? Maybe the smallest of separation between otherwise cemented knees on the uneven bars or vault?
Head to head, the two split exactly where they might expect to — Chiles topping Lee in her two best events, the vault and the floor, and Lee owning the edge on beam and bars. Chiles, in fact, led Lee heading into the last rotation but Team USA’s last apparatus in qualifications was bars, where Lee is an Olympic and world bronze medalist. Last on the event, her 14.866 topped Chiles’ 14.266 and solidified her spot in the all-around final.
Jordan Chiles started Team USA’s day off with a blistering beam routine and was solid all day. But Suni Lee passed her in the final event. (Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images)
Lee, of course, is coming back from a devastating kidney disease that nearly knocked her out of the sport a year ago. Her face and hands inexplicably swelling, Lee had to endure a battery of tests to figure out what was going on, and then wait as doctors found the proper medication cocktail to keep her illness at bay. She gained 45 pounds while simultaneously losing all of her confidence. She only resumed training in January and didn’t consider herself a realistic shot for a return to the Olympics until late spring. Even then she assumed she would be an event specialist, but injuries at trials opened the door not only for a spot, but for a chance to defend her gold medal.
She deserved her chance.
Then again so did Chiles. She has been the ultimate team player for the better part of her senior career — here to help, ready to hype, a star but never the star.
Three years ago in Tokyo, she struggled at this very stage — the qualifying round — and failed to make a single individual event final. Yet when Biles withdrew from team competition, it was Chiles who helped fill the void. She replaced Biles on beam and uneven bars, nailing her routines despite not even warming up. The team earned the silver.
Her return to this Olympics has been hardly linear. Chiles finished third at the Core Hydration Classic in May, but fifth at U.S. Championships and headed to Olympic trials as anything but a lock. Like Lee, the injuries to Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello gave Chiles opportunity, but she waltzed through. Channeling what she jokingly calls her “angry Jordan,” Chiles performed solidly at trials, qualifying for these Games.
She’s likely not done at these Olympics. She’s in good position to earn a spot in the floor exercise final after finishing second to Biles there.
And she technically “earned a spot” in the all-around too. It’s just not the way these particular Games are played.
GO DEEPER
Simone Biles returns to Olympics with an injury scare and a dazzling show
(Top photo of Jordan Chiles and Simone: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
