‘This is your priority’: Jordan Chiles prepares her goodbye to her UCLA era while looking at what’s next

The Olympic gymnast, who won gold in the Women’s Team All-Around event, has seen her career soar in recent years, with love from Beyoncé and more.

Jordan Chiles has done it all at UCLA. Achieve perfect 10s, turn heads with her routines and help define a chapter with the school’s gymnastics program.

Now she is preparing for her swan song.

Chiles’ final home meet with the Bruins is Saturday, and after a career that saw her take on Olympic highs and even be embroiled in unintentional controversy, the 24-year-old is reflecting with gratitude on all she has accomplished.

“Seeing the four letters one last time in Pauley for our senior night is definitely going to be bittersweet,” Chiles told the Daily Bruin. “I don’t think I’m very prepared for it.”

Chiles, who first became a gymnast at the age of six, didn’t start seeing it as a potential career opportunity until she was a teenager. Then, her dreams of becoming an Olympian took center stage.

“Every time that I did go into the gym, it was really like, OK, this is your priority. You’re dedicated to this,” she told the Associated Press.

That dedication led her to make her first Olympic team in 2021 in Tokyo and then again in 2024 in Paris. Before even taking the stage in Paris, Chiles got warm wishes from the Queen of the BeyHive and her “twin,” Beyoncé.

“Congrats to you Queen. Always watching you with pride and admiration. Thank you for reppin’ us. Good luck to you,” she wrote, with another handwritten note reading, “All of your hard work and sacrifice shines bright. Praying for you and wishing you the best. Love your twin, Beyonce.”

In the lead-up to the Games in Paris, Chiles wore Beyoncé-inspired leotards and, during the floor exercise, danced to Beyoncé again. The bond between singer and gymnast went even deeper after Queen Bey gave Chiles a framed vinyl of her “Cowboy Carter” album.

The recognition from Beyoncé meant everything.

“That just made me realize, like, I am being seen out of my own industry,” Chiles said. “It means a lot because, as an athlete, you never know what happens, because we’re always in this small bubble and we never can really see what’s on the outside of that bubble.”

As she prepares to say goodbye to UCLA and devote her focus to her SHERO Athlete Collective, and possibly enter fashion and acting, Chiles has another bucket list item she wants to cross off: attending the Met Gala.

But before those dreams take shape, there’s a meet to stun in on Saturday.

“There’s always an end to everything, and there’s always a new beginning, and so I’m allowing this to be a very welcoming ending,” Chiles said.