As Chiles deliberated, it gave her a chance for something rare: a training break.
The Seattle-area native has been on the go for nearly three years straight, having participated in the Olympic season, a cross-country post-Games arena tour, the 2022 NCAA and elite seasons, and the 2023 NCAA season.
“I think it’s more of me just always going, and I always have to do something,” Chiles said of her non-stop schedule. “So, with my sport if I can do that, then I kind of just am going to do that.”
She was still on the go, mind you, taking care of the other parts of her job as a professional athlete, including signing a deal with Nike.
Things started to slow down after she attended the marriage of friend and training partner Simone Biles, the seven-time Olympic medallist who has returned to the sport this season after two years away, in May.
Chiles struggled to pin down when exactly she returned to full-time training, but coach Laurent Landi told media at the recent U.S. Championships that, “we’ve only been coaching her for the past five weeks.”
She went all in.
“I kind of, you know, went into the gym. I was like, ‘Look, I know that’s going to be the toughest time of my life to get everything back,’ but I also like to challenge myself. So, throughout the practices I was getting frustrated, but at the same time I was like, ‘Look, you haven’t done anything and it’s okay.’ I just focus on what I’ve already done and what I’ve already accomplished so I can get through my practices,” Chiles said of her first days back in the gym. “I was sore for the first week-and-a-half, two weeks of being there.”
She had an up-and-down showing at the U.S. Classic in early August, finishing fourth on the uneven bars but just 13th on the balance beam.
Despite just a week-and-a-half turn around from the Classic to the U.S. nationals, Chiles finished fifth overall.
Both Landi and Chiles expect much improvement ahead of the U.S. World Championships selection event (19-20 September).
“This is, I want to say, my fifth time doing a World selection camp,” said Chiles, “I’m really excited, really happy that there’s more opportunities.”
According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), this represents between $1,179 and $1,383 per person, per year. The study factors in 50 SDG i
THE brazen murder of a Sikh community leader in Canada is just the latest assassination in a spate of shocking attacks. Assassins seem to be becoming increasing
Refugees, including people from Syria, Iran, Eritrea and Sudan, can now apply to a new government programme to gain the skills they need to enter the UK job ma
For some people, college feels like an insurmountable challenge. Dylan Jones ’16 has a message for them: “You are good
