Jordan Chiles reveals personal darkness in new memoir — Emily Leese returns for Rutgers

Happy Gymnastics Saturday!

Jordan Chiles’ memoir, “I’m That Girl,” drops Tuesday. In an interview with People this week, Chiles shared some of its content — namely, that she was a victim of emotional abuse by her early coaches and suffered from an eating disorder. Her struggles at times, she said, led to suicidal ideation. 

It’s hard to imagine the Chiles we know now, from her exuberant UCLA floor routines and her role as Olympic team cheerleader, not being, well, that girl. But as any “Saturday Night Live” fan could tell you, so often when someone is that ray of light in public, the private darkness is there, too.

I believe Chiles when she says that she’s now doing well and that her coaching change to work with Cecile and Laurent Landi at World Champions Centre (WCC) in Texas, thousands of miles from her native Washington state, contributed to her success on the international level. It was obvious from her early career that she had both the talent and personality to make her an Olympian and a star, but her confidence was not there.

But I am glad she is telling her story. It’s not materially different from a lot of other gymnastics stories, except that Chiles got help. She says that Simone Biles reached out to her and asked her to move to WCC to train with her. Sometimes it takes one to know one, and in this case, Biles, who has certainly been through her own share of trauma, saw it in Chiles and wanted to help. The line about Biles reaching out is such a small portion of the People article, but I’m sure it looms large for Chiles.

That is not to say, of course, that Chiles did not put in her own work to improve her circumstances. She would not be an Olympic gold and silver medalist (and a bronze medalist in many people’s hearts) if she had not. But the impact of a friend noticing you are not thriving and saying so is huge, and I’m so happy for Chiles that she had that person in Biles. It speaks volumes about their relationship.

I look forward to reading more from Chiles. 

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Other gym news

Balance Beam Situation has your schedule and links for this NCAA weekend and, of course, the GIFs. 

College Gym News has, of course, the leo rankings. There’s also a Data Deep Dive about whether scoring is actually tighter this season and a Judge’s Inquiry about Nastia Cup competitors and their college scoring potential.  

The Gymternet has the Winter Cup and Cottbus World Cup results. 

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GymCastic talks more about Cottbus. The highlight is that Oksana Chusovitina won bronze on the vault there. She’s baaaaaaack! 

Charlotte Booth ruptured her Achilles at Cottbus. She said on Instagram that the injury meant the end of her elite career (and her time with British Gymnastics, after she was an Olympic alternate last summer) and that her next step would be NCAA gymnastics at Auburn. 

All Things Gymnastics talks leotards with LSU.

USA Gymnastics released the international assignments for gymnasts who competed at Winter Cup. 

LSU gymnasts spoke out for Black History Month. 

Suni Lee is fire. 

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Five at The IX: Emily Leese’s return

Rutgers’s Emily Leese suffered an Achilles injury last year, just one day before she was set to compete at the Big Ten championships. She has returned to competition on the balance beam, and this video chronicles her path back from injury in time to enjoy part of her senior season. Rutgers gymnasts have had a tough year, and this video adds some joy.