PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The road to Tokyo could very well run through Vancouver, Washington, as Prairie High School’s Jordan Chiles returned to the gymnastics stage late last month after more than a year and blew everyone away.
It’s been a roller coaster the past 18 months for the now-19 year old. It all started in October 2019, when she had surgery on her wrist.
“It was a little difficult at first but I was getting my strength back into my wrist and then the flexibility and all that stuff,” she said.
A few months later, the sports world stopped turning as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on. So, with Tokyo postponed to 2021, Chiles then shifted her focus to solely getting healthy.
“That recovery time of us being in quarantine definitely helped with my wrist surgery,” said Chiles. “It was a little difficult at first coming back, so it definitely helped.”
But when Chiles did come back, she stole the show. winning the Winter Cup in late February as she competes for one of the four spots on Team USA’s Tokyo squad.
“I definitely had the best experience of my life because we hadn’t competed in a year and a half, so being out there and feeling all the energy from the girls and the coaches and everybody out there was definitely an experience I loved and was happy that I was able to have,” she said.
Chiles will join her friend and gold medal favorite Simone Biles for the World Championships in May.
“Hopefully everybody will see that 100% by trials and the Olympics.”