“I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams” is an emotional rollercoaster that revisits some of the hardest times of Jordan Chiles’ life so far. Chiles has been through a lot over the years and emerged stronger than her adversities each time. Thus, when she felt the time was right, the 23-year-old decided to pen down all her experiences and expose the dark reality that the shining world of gymnastics often hides from its fans. But in her bid to do so, Chiles has landed in a situation she had not seen coming. 

Lingering factual inaccuracies in the book did not escape the eyes of several readers. Not even a day ago, a Reddit user made a post on the platform, listing instances from the book that would easily come into the notice of any sharp-eyed, long-time gymnastics fan. For example, recounting the fall-out between Simone Biles and Carlotta Ferlito, wherein the latter had made a controversial racist remark, Chiles dated the incident to the 2016 Rio Olympics when in reality, the incident dates back to the 2013 World Championships where Simone Biles finished third on the beam, winning bronze whereas Ferlito finished fifth, as per an NBC sports report. Moreover, Carlotta Ferlito did not even qualify for the beam finals event at the Rio Olympics. But this wasn’t all. Jordan Chiles’ memoir had other inaccuracies that have emerged into the spotlight.

Next up, Chiles claimed that due to misogynoir, she was once tested thrice within a month by the USADA. Digging deeper into the matter, the Reddit post discovered that the only instances when Chiles was tested thrice in a quarter were in 2021 and 2022. But even then, other athletes like Suni Lee, Simone Biles, and Jade Carey also had to endure frequent visits from the USADA officers. For instance, as per USADA data in the 2nd quarter of 2021, Simone Biles was tested 4 times! The Reddit post argues that athletes who are the most likely to go to the Olympics are the most tested. Jordan Chiles was tested frequently because at the time she was one of the foremost all-around gymnasts. This was not the end. There was ground for more contention with the book.

At one point, Chiles stated that Valerie Liukin intentionally asked her to focus on all-around instead of vault in the 2017 Worlds. According to the explanation provided by the Reddit post, Chiles, who had then trained two vaults, the second of which she intended to be a Lopez accompanying an Amanar. This would have then put her combined difficulty at 11. However, Jade Carey’s Amanar and Tsuk double combo had a starting difficulty of 11.4. Jade Carey would be a safer pick for vaults than Jordan Chiles from the perspective of the selection committee. As per a report by thegymter.net, although Jordan Chiles’ vault were better than the rest of her events (her best was the all-around event), she still needed time to perfect a Lopez, “Chiles said following the competition that she was working on a Lopez, but it wasn’t ready by the time the selection camp came around.” The post also claimed that Liukin, by focusing on what the 23-year-old was actually good at, was guiding her down a sure path to the 2017 World Championships. There was yet another piece of misinformation in Chiles’ memoir that ought to rub many fans the wrong way because it involved the name of a gymnastics legend!

Chiles’ book made the statement that Nadia Comaneci and Camelia Voinea were teammates, and that was the reason why Comaneci raised her voice in favor of Sabrina. But as per wagymnastics.fandom.com, Comaneci played her final competition in 1981, and it was not until 1984 that Camelia Voinea made her senior debut! Thus, with all these glaring factual inaccuracies coming to light, the fans too, have gotten involved, and Jordan Chiles hasn’t been able to escape criticism.

Jordan Chiles faces backlash from the fans

As soon as the post gained traction, fans flocked to the comment section to express their frustration. One fan pointed out the lack of fact-checking in Jordan Chiles’ recently released book. Their remark highlighted the inaccuracies in Jordan’s book, particularly about Carlotta Ferlito’s racist comments. Ferlito’s remarks happened at the 2013 Worlds, not the 2016 Olympics, which is a rather simple fact to verify. The comment read, “Wow, her publishing team really screwed up here. A lot of these are simple mistakes that any professional research and fact checking team should have picked up”. Such a mistake reflects poorly on Jordan’s publishing team for failing to verify key details. Yet another drew attention to broader issues.

One commenter brought up the problem with non-fiction publishing. Their comment took a dig at the standards set by the publishing industries. The inaccuracies about the Romanian federation’s handling of Sabrina and Ana’s cases suggest that publishers may rely on the author’s memory rather than independent research. “Apparently this is actually quite typical in the non-fiction publishing industry. I’m not sure if they assume the author will have done their own research or if they assume the audience simply won’t care, but publishing teams won’t fact check a book before putting it out. It honestly makes me wonder what else I’ve read that I’ve taken as truth without question because I assumed everything in it was fact checked”, wrote a concerned reader.

The reaction from another gymnastics enthusiast personally shared how they feel the timing of the memoir is wrong. They questioned Jordan’s readiness to write a memoir at just 23. “I said it before but she is too young to publish a memoir like this. She does not have perspective looking back”, wrote another commenter. There were other qualms about whether Jordan’s subjective experiences have meddled with the accuracy of the memoir.

Referring to Jordan’s portrayal of the 2017 Worlds, suggesting her feelings from that time may have clouded her interpretation, one Reddit user reflected on her emotional perspective. It implies Jordan’s emotional connection to events might have led to a skewed narrative. The netizen shared their two cents commenting, “Honestly already the narrative about the 2017 Worlds had put me off reading this book. I get why she felt this way back then as a young disappointed gymnast but she should be able to reflect on the situation differently now.” 

With such comments and insights, Jordan Chiles is bound to feel the heat. Although the memoir is a poignant account of a gymnast who has faced several adversities in her life, mastered her craft, and become the favorite of many, netizens are not being forgiving when it comes to factual inaccuracies. What’s next in this episode? That’s for us to see.