Ever since the floor exercise final at Bercy Arena, Jordan Chiles’ life has been a roller coaster. After earning her first individual Olympic medal thanks to Coach Cecile Landis’ appeal, Chiles’ joy didn’t last long. Soon an international controversy began which ended with the Court of Arbitration of Sports stripping the 23-year-old of her bronze medal.

The incident alongside backlash from Romanian fans who celebrated her downfall prompted the 23-year-old to take a break from social media. However, it wasn’t until Gina Chiles appeared on the Got It From My Momma Podcast that fans learned how her misery affected the family. The Olympian’s heartbroken mother revealed how it reignited the age-old desire to protect her daughter.

“As a mom, you want to take away all of the negative ones (emotions) and just only focus on everything positive,” Jordan Chiles’ mother explained on the podcast. However, just as she had practiced since the 23-year-old was a child, Gina Chiles didn’t interfere. Staying silent when her daughter grappled with complex emotions was always the “hardest part” for Chiles.

“We’ve been being silent in moments that we wanna say something… Just kind of bite your tongue, and you know, let things ride,” said the Olympic gold medalist’s mother. That’s because she has always believed that the gymnastics icon needed to understand how to process every emotion. Gina Chiles knew things would be tough growing up as a talented competitive gymnast.

“We just had to let her navigate that and on her own,” confessed the Spring, Texas resident. Thankfully, this time Gina and Timothy Chiles had help in the form of their daughter’s teammate, Simone Biles. While Jordan Chiles found support from her parent after the Paris Olympics debacle, her BFF also stepped up. The seven-time Olympic gold medalist tried to cheer up her World Champions Center buddy at every opportunity.

The 27-year-old revealed she continued to send “little things” to Chiles during her social media hiatus. The two-time Olympian made her first public reappearance alongside Biles at Minute Maid Park, where Biles threw the symbolic first pitch. Since then the UCLA gymnast has taken a different stance.

Jordan Chiles is moving on but not giving up the fight

While the two-time Olympic medalist took her time to grieve her bronze medal loss, Chiles adopted a different approach after the social media hiatus. The Pan-Am Games gold medalist did not speak about the CAS verdict and everything that followed. Instead, Chiles made her runway debut at the New York Fashion Week, appeared on the VMA stage, and focused on the ongoing Gold Over America Tour.

Now the 23-year-old is planning to return to UCLA. With two years of eligibility left, the gymnast is excited to resume her college gymnastics career. “I can just focus on how I bring Jordan back to the Jordan that’s ready for college… I put myself in the mindset of like, ‘OK, this is a new chapter of a book that you may be writing one day,” Chiles told The Zero Report.

However, the team all-around gold medalist in Paris is not ready to give up on her bronze medal just yet. Last month, the Olympian filed not one but two separate appeals at the Swiss Tribunal. With the backing of USA Gymnastics, Jordan Chiles argued that the CAS verdict was based on factually incorrect evidence.

She also argued that the CAS should consider the new evidence that surfaced after their initial hearing. While the Tribunal is yet to announce its verdict, it is clear that Jordan Chiles is leading the charge in putting the controversy to rest. So it’s safe to say Gina Chiles withholding the desire to protect her daughter at every step has yielded success.