Jordan Chiles and UCLA Gymnastics—  sounds like a match made in heaven, right? Especially now that they’ve snagged their first Big 10 title together. And their entire 2025 season is making us feel like this duo makes a dream team. After all, in 7th grade, Chiles had already made her decision: she was going to UCLA. But there were moments of doubt, times she questioned it all, maybe even considered walking away. But why?

UCLA was ticking all the right boxes. Good academics, proximity to Los Angeles, the Californian sunshine, and of course, the Jamba Juice on campus helped Jordan Chiles make up her mind. And yes, both this step and joining NCAA gymnastics did give her that initial freedom and chance to show her personality in her performances. But there were downsides too. And most of them hit her in her freshman year.

In her book, I’m That Girl, Jordan Chiles specified details about her freshman year that go, “But life as a Bruin had its own challenges, reminding me that what I’d faced as a Black woman in gymnastics wasn’t exclusive to the elite level.” Sounds like some horrors didn’t leave her even in the collegiate gym.

She also narrated an incident, citing that she would often add hip-hop or R&B music to her NCAA routines. And this one time, she even went viral for tumbling on the floor to a medley of Normani and Lizzo. But while she was proud of breaking the mold with these steps, “the older NCAA judges frowned upon it…”

Also, Jordan Chiles detailed yet another reason why she wasn’t starting to get entirely comfortable at UCLA. That’s because “the school had started getting letters addressed to me from stalkers who had seen me on TV, and campus security and local police were on alert.” That’s when Chiles thought to herself, maybe “…this isn’t where I want to be right now.”

But today, the UCLA junior Jordan Chiles must be thanking herself for not having taken any hasty call at that moment. Why? Because she and the Bruins have now etched their names in history!

Third Perfect 10 for Jordan Chiles and maiden win for UCLA

History was created on March 22, 2025, in the Big Ten Championships’ third session. The Bruins scored their fourth-highest score in school history, 198.450, to win their maiden Big 10 title and 21st conference title overall. Also, 4 perfect scores were recorded in a single session, the most in the history of the event. In fact, out of those 4, UCLA was the first Big Ten team to have 3 gymnasts record a perfect 10 in the same championship meet. And one of these was Jordan Chiles. The other two were Brooklyn Moors (floors) and Ciena Alipio (beams).

Chiles welcomed her second perfect 10 on the floor this season and third overall in 2025. Yes, we are thinking exactly what you are. The very floor routine from where Chiles started pushing the envelope in her freshman season at UCLA seemed to have become her best apparatus this season.

And one of the reasons behind this is certainly assistant coach B.J. Das. Das, having performed with superstars like Beyonce, Pink, Usher, and Miley Cyrus, seems to have a knack for the latest grooves and beats, as Jordan Chiles has always fancied.  Das stands out because of her belief, “I want them to enjoy the process and the creativity.”  Guess that’s exactly what Chiles is doing. Safe to say, she has come a long way from freshman year!