In 2019, the Arkansas Razorbacks women’s gymnastics team got its new coach who became one of the youngest head coaches in NCAA history. The legend, who was a member of the Fierce Five that won a gold medal in the London Olympics, brought with her a change in the approach to coaching. Facing the trauma of an abusive coaching regime, she started working to create a compassionate, caring style of coaching. Interestingly, just after joining, she also hired an assistant who was in Oklahoma back then. And guess who is that?
It was her boyfriend and two-time Olympian Chris Brooks. “When this opportunity came up, I asked him, ‘If I get this job, do you want to come with me and do this together?” she said to him. Since then, they have been developing the Arkansas gymnasts together. But not only professionally, so much has happened in their personal lives as well during their time in Arkansas.
That duo, Jordyn Wieber and Chris Brooks took their relationship to another level when Brooks proposed to Weiber in 2021. “He walked in the door, my jaw dropped, and he got on one knee,” Jordyn Wieber told PEOPLE. The couple eventually got married on May 28, 2023, in Arkansas. Since then, the couple has been a huge fan favorite in the gymnastics community. Now, as one more good news comes their way, fans are excited like anything.
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On December 18, Wieber announced on her Instagram that she and her husband Chris Brooks were expecting a baby. She had uploaded a video of both of them announcing the news at the University of Arkansas gymnastics gym. Interestingly, the way they announced the news nicely reflects their coaching philosophy- inclusion. They made their Arkansas family a part of their personal happiness. Here is how they did.
In the video, Jordyn can be seen alongside her husband with her whole team gathered around them. She then motions them to clap, which the whole team does. Then Chris and her scream “Baby.” The team takes a moment to realize this before reacting in an appropriate way of shock at the news. This causes the gymnastics couple to open their jackets, revealing their t-shirts that read Arkansas mom and dad. The whole team then exploded into a congratulatory cheer for the couple.
This post was then shared on the gymnastics community on Reddit by a user named unicornslayer9 who captioned their re-upload with, “Congrats to the couple!” The post attracted a lot of users who were delighted with the news as the couple has a lot of well-wishers in the community. Some also speculated that their child would be extremely gifted in the sport, considering their parents. In fact, the very start of their relationship was in the gymnastic arena.
The two first met in 2011 while they were both trying to leave their mark at the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships. “We were friends for a few years and crossed paths many times competing internationally in gymnastics before we started dating,” said Jordyn. The couple would start dating for a while after they became friends.
They tied the knot at Osage House in Bentonville, Arkansas in an “old Hollywood glam with a modern twist,” themed wedding Wieber, 27, exclusively told PEOPLE. “To become husband and wife is so exciting,” she said of their marriage. “It means we are committing to building a special and meaningful life together and to make the commitment in front of our favorite people at our wedding meant the world to us.”
The couple’s 170 guests included Wieber’s 2012 Fierce Five Olympic teammates Aly Raisman and Kyla Ross, plus Madison Kocian and Jake Dalton. Planned and designed by Amanda Reed, the wedding’s location was perfect for the gymnasts’ families, as Wieber’s crew is from Michigan while Brooks’ family is from Texas. “It was a great happy medium for both of our families,” she said.
“We live and work at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and have super busy schedules, so it made planning so much easier knowing that our venue and vendors were local,” Wieber adds. Now, as the family is set to expand, the fans came up with all the good wishes from their sides.
Jordyn Wieber’s baby to be born with gymnastics genes, fans say
Members of the gymnastics community were understandably very happy with the news. They had followed the couple’s love story quite closely throughout the years and couldn’t wait for them to take their next step in the relationship. “Omggggg so happy for them!” said one fan. Understandably so as they were quite invested in Jordyn Wieber and Chris Brooks’ romance. Many fans loved the way, the announcement was carried out by them.
The fact that they decided to announce the pregnancy in a gymnastics gym, associated the news with the sport that has given them everything. It only went to show how much Jordyn’s team in Arkansas meant to her. Of course, this is only understandable considering the fact that the gymnast has been the coach of the team for four years now. Thus, their attachment to them was completely justified.
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This is why Jordyn and Chris decided to make their first public announcement of the pregnancy there. “omg why did I just tear up 😭😭 so so happy for them!!!!!!!! and for that lucky little baby 💗” said one fan reacting to the announcement. Some fans were also moved by the matching shirts which were titled ‘Arkansas Mom’ and ‘Arkansas Dad’. It was a very cute gesture which ended up being an incredibly wholesome moment.
A fan talked about this in their comment saying, “The college shirts were such a cute announcement.” But there was another topic of discussion among the fans. Both Jordyn Wieber and Chris Brooks were very talented gymnasts during their careers. While Chris’ main achievement lies in winning five medals at the Pacific Rim Championships, Jordyn’s career was heavily decorated. She was part of the fierce five gymnastics team which won the gold medal in the team competition at the London Olympics.
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Jordyn has also won three medals in the World Championships which includes two gold medals. This begs the question that how talented would be the baby in the sport, considering the great genes they will be getting. Many fans debated about that, hilariously speculating that the child is meant for great things even before they are born. “This is so exciting ahhh!!! The strongest super human baby that will have ever existed. Two bada**es for parents.” said one fan.
Another went even further suggesting the gymnastics category in which the child would find success. “Meet our 2044 Olympic All around champion, haha.” said one fan. This speculation was made knowing the fact that Jordyn Wieber has won a gold medal at the World Championships in the all-around category. Thus, the fans believed that the baby would too! Well, this shows how excited they were with the news of the gymnastics power couple. This shows the amount of well-wishers Jordyn Wieber and Chris Brooks have.
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