PARIS, FRANCE – JULY 30: Gold medalist Jordan Chiles of Team United States poses with the Olympic Rings during the medal ceremony during the Artistic Gymnastics Women’s Team Final on day four of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on July 30, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
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Jordan Chiles is three weeks into her final season with the UCLA Bruins women’s gymnastics team, but she still thinks about elite gymnastics. The 24-year-old and two-time Olympian returned to UCLA after winning team gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and leads the squad as a senior in ’26.
In 2025, Chiles led the Bruins to the program’s first Big Ten title and a National Runner-Up finish behind the powerhouse Oklahoma Sooners. In 2026, a national team title could be within reach for the Bruins.
Despite being deep in the season and fresh off a finale appearance in Dancing with the Stars, Chiles thinks about elite gymnastics “a lot of the time,” she says.
“I feel like…that’s a question that people are going to continue to ask me,” Chiles said during UCLA’s weekly media availability. For those who have been wondering and hoping for a third Olympic push, the door remains open for Chiles.
“(The 2028 Olympics) is always going to be in my mind,” she said.
While Chiles vows to focus on the tasks at hand, including finishing out her senior season with the Bruins, she remains realistic about the timeline leading up to LA.
At the close of the NCAA Gymnastics Championships in April, the 2028 Olympics will be just two years away on the horizon. Two years is not a lot of time in ‘gymnastics years.’ For her Paris Olympic push, Chiles returned to the elite stage in 2022, exactly two years before her Olympic return.
Her 2021 Olympic teammate Jade Carey also returned in 2022, only to successfully return to the Olympics in 2024. Conversely, Simone Biles made her 2024 Olympic comeback in late 2023, just one year prior to Paris.
While Carey just completed her senior season at Oregon State, neither Biles nor Carey has indicated an intent to return to elite competition.
Though a same-year or one-year comeback is feasible for some, namely the most decorated gymnast of all-time, Simone Biles, returning two years prior to the event is often considered the path of least resistance.
“We’ll see what happens…anything is possible,” Chiles laughed. In the meantime, gymnastics fans can continue to hold their breath until April and the closure of the 2026 college gymnastics season…or longer.
This weekend, Chiles and the No. 9-ranked UCLA Bruins continue their bid for their second-straight Big Ten Championship and first NCAA title since 2018. The title would be the first under Head Coach Janelle McDonald.
The Bruins next face off against a Big Ten foe, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, on Saturday, January 17 at 6 p.m. ET on Big Ten Plus.