“I’m that girl,” is Jordan Chiles’s motto this year. As the 2024 Paris Olympics inches close, her spirits are high. Yet, heading into her second Olympic year, things aren’t going to be easy. And she knows this. With three Olympic medalists in the form of Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, and Gabby Douglas trying to make it to Team USA, Chiles understands the level of competition she is going against.

In an exclusive interview with Olympics.com, the gymnast spoke about her friendship with Biles. Considering the fact that they are childhood best friends, train and compete together, several aspects of their lives are in the mix. “This is gonna be the hardest anybody’s ever gonna make, having that much talent,” Chiles stated.

“Having, obviously, three Olympic all-arounders (Biles, Lee, and Douglas), World champions and an Olympic team coming back from college, it’s going to be a tough team to make.” But didn’t she overcome that difficulty in the past?

Making it to the team during the Tokyo Olympics was also not easy. Jordan moved to WCC in the year 2019. She had very little time to make herself ready for the Olympics. But Simone Biles’ WCC coaches, Laurent and Cecile Landi, took up that challenge of racing against time. Rest is history. Training alongside Simone at the WCC has done wonders for Jordan Chiles.

That being said, her dynamics with Simone Biles never seemed to have faced any issues, despite intense competition. “It brought me joy all over again of loving this sport. She encourages me a lot and amazes me,” Jordan Chiles previously said when asked why she chose to train with Simone Biles. Since Chiles’ shift to Texas to train in Simone’s family-run gym World Champions Center, the duo has been two peas in a pod.

In fact, Chiles stood up for Simone at the Tokyo Olympics when the latter faced mental health issues. In return, Simone shared a heartfelt photo with Chiles, captioned, “That’s my best friend, she’s a real bad b.” After all, Chiles won a silver for her country. Chiles has reciprocated this deep bond, seeing Biles not just as a best friend but also as a mentor and big sister, calling her “my ride or die best friend.” But that stays well outside the competitive arena.

Further, she has also faced some difficult times in her career. “I discovered that gymnastics doesn’t always have to be about strictness and being so hard on yourself and having so much doubt,” Jordan had said about her changing perspective on the sport. That helped her bounce back. Remember how she missed the World Championships in 2023? But she made up for it at the Pan-American Games. Tackling all these, she now has a renewed approach for the Olympic year.

How Jordan Chiles plans to conquer her second Olympic cycle!

After finishing her sophomore year at UCLA, Chiles took a break from gymnastics, during which she spent her time traveling and considered whether to return to elite gymnastics or continue focusing on college gymnastics. Chiles eventually decided to aim for the Paris 2024 Olympics by returning to elite gymnastics.

“I’m happy I was able to enjoy [some time] with my NCAA teammates. Then, coming in and seeing where my mind truly was,” Chiles said. But her late return to elite gymnastics put her at a disadvantage, costing her a spot at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Despite this setback, she led the U.S. team at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. Thus, she is aware of her capabilities. Further, in her interview with the Olympics, Chiles also stated that she is ready to take on the challenges the year 2024 has in store for her. She will soon be making her season debut at the U.S. Classic in Hartford, Connecticut, and people can’t wait to see her.

However, while Chiles is hoping for the best, she feels she doesn’t have anything to prove to people. “I am a World champion. I will forever be a World champion. I’m an Olympian. I will forever be an Olympian. Those titles will never be stripped away from me.”

As fans eagerly await her epic debut at Hartford, they hope that Biles and Chiles can take the Paris Olympics by storm. And when Chiles succeeds –That girl– that’s what she wants to be known as.