How Did Jordan Chiles’ Aunt Pass Away? Hard Times That the Gymnastics Star Faced After Her Death
The proverb It takes a village to raise a child is often quoted, and it fits perfectly for Olympic medalist Jordan Chiles‘s gymnastics journey. Like many other gymnasts including the world superstar Simone Biles, Chiles’s champion moments seen on the media and the international stage were accompanied by an abundance of doubts, injuries, and personal struggles. Despite how much she enjoyed training at her birthplace Vancouver, Washington’s Naydenov Gymnastics, she felt the need to step out to seek a spot on the Olympic team.
Taking the big leap of faith, Chiles moved to Spring, Texas, where she trained alongside Biles at the World Champions Center. Chiles hopped on a plane to Texas with her mother, while her aunt and other close relatives supported her settle into her new location. A while back, overwhelmed with guilt as her aunt passed away, Chiles opened up about her feelings.
Jordan Chiles shares deep-rooted remorse
After the 2018 World Gymnastics Championships in October, Jordan Chiles’s life took a turn for the better when she started with Simone Biles as her roommate for the week leading up to Olympic team tryouts. Despite not making the Worlds team, Chiles returned home with a success plan. Jordan originally sought her parents for help, since she wasn’t sure if gymnastics was the right sport for her. She then moved to Texas in June 2019 along with her mother Gina Chiles. That year, Jordan proudly shared on Facebook on November 12, 2018, stating, “Thank you to my uncles, my auntie, my grandpa, my cousins and all the veterans who served.”
Athletes’ personal lives are usually unknown. Thus, it wasn’t until in a podcast episode hosted by Taylor Lautner and Taylor Dome on the YouTube channel ‘The Squeeze,’ that anyone knew what Jordan has buried within. When asked, “If you could go back to one moment in your life, what would that moment be?” Holding back her tears, Jordan Chiles, 23, replied, “Would be to when my aunt was alive and apologize for a lot of things that I wish I would have been able to say before she passed.”
Chiles’ aunt – Crystal Oliver did leave a lacuna in Chiles’ life that she found hard to recover from. The fateful day she was supposed to compete at the Pac-12 Championships, her aunt had been hospitalized. Up until then, she was competing merely to honor her ailing aunt. Once the meet was wrapped up, Chiles whisked herself in the throes of Oliver fighting for her life in the hospital. Unfortunately, Oliver passed away a couple of days ago, leaving a lot of room for bereavement. She made it back to her UCLA team, who pepped her spirits right back up and she gave it her all in the NCAA regionals with a flourish. She led UCLA to the national championships reeling under the heartbreak. She never did give up in the face of adversity as she was even affectionately nicknamed Shero by Oliver. Post her aunt’s death, she still gave it her all at the US Classics and the US Nationals with full fervor. Now, on the flipside, how did her grandpa’s death affect her being?
A major factor in Jordan’s ambition to become a gymnast was the Chiles family. Jordan hails from a traditional home; her father, Timothy Chiles, is a senior pastor at the Word Worship Center in Vancouver, Washington. Gina Chiles, her mother, serves as the church’s senior pastor as well. When Jordan was seven years old, Timothy took her to the gymnastics gym, and that’s where her journey began. Unfortunately, the untimely death of Jordan’s grandfather, Gene Velasquez, last fall on the eve of Thanksgiving in 2023 challenged Jordan’s resilience once again. He would give her confidence in overcoming difficulties and reassure her that no matter what she faced, it would eventually pass. Simone Biles also struggled during the 2020–21 Tokyo Olympics to cope with her aunt’s death and the pressure to perform well.
The resilient chapter from Simone Biles’s Tokyo year
During the 2020-21 Tokyo Olympics, Simone Biles was secretly grieving the loss of her dearest family member. The four-time Olympic gold medalist who withdrew from many Olympic final events told the reporters the heartbreaking news that her aunt, her father’s sister had “unexpectedly passed.” Cecile Canqueteau-Landi, Biles’ personal Olympics coach and a former WCC coach, later confirmed the devastating news.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics – Gymnastics – Artistic – Women’s Team – Final – Ariake Gymnastics Centre, Tokyo, Japan – July 27, 2021. Simone Biles of the United States during the Women’s Team Final REUTERS/Mike Blake
Following two prosperous NCAA gymnastics seasons with the UCLA Bruins, Jordan is now concentrating on leading the five-woman team to Paris. As the Summer Olympics is drawing near, for Jordan Chiles and Simone Biles, the Core Hydration Classic serves as the first leg of the qualification process.
The post How Did Jordan Chiles’ Aunt Pass Away? Hard Times That the Gymnastics Star Faced After Her Death appeared first on EssentiallySports.
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