Jordan Chiles is getting ready to bring her A-game for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics. That's not the only life-altering moment going on in her family, however.
Jordan's mother, Gina Chiles, is set to report to prison in a matter of weeks to serve a one-year, one-day sentence. Gina pleaded guilty to wire fraud last year. Her sentence was due to begin on the same day of the women's team final, until a recent development brought some good news to the Chiles family.
A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, recently granted Gina a 30-day delay of prison start. Now she'll be able to support Jordan in this incredible, unique moment.
Jordan Chiles is one of the six incredible talents making up the USA Women's Gymnastics Team. The 20-year-old is living her dreams. Her mother, Gina Chiles, is doing her best to enjoy and live in this incredible moment in her daughter's life.
"Every moment that I watch Jordan is the most amazing moment as a mom," she told Today.
"And so I just am looking at it as not bittersweet, but just a sweet period that she's here."
The bittersweetness comes from Gina's own struggles. Last year, she pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She was accused of embezzling $1.2 million from her clients and business partners in Portland. Gina was subsequently sentenced to one year and one day in prison.
Gina was set to turn herself in on the same day of the women's team final, July 27. That has now changed as a federal judge in Portland granted Gina a 30-day delay of prison start. This will "give Mrs. Chiles' daughter at least some additional time to have her mother's emotional support and guidance during such a monumental time her young life," per KOIN 6.
One of Gina's victims, Karla Pearlstein, lost $945,000 and is displeased to hear the delay has been granted.
"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," she said.
"The courts have given her break after break. This is not the first time that they have allowed her to travel or delayed for sentencing because Jordan's Olympic trials or whatever, but it's a real disservice to those of us who she victimized. And, I'm not happy about it to be frank with you."
Gina is not the only support system Jordan will have on hand when the time comes to compete. She's also got her teammate and mentor, Simone Biles, by her side.
"Simone really pushes because she pushes herself," Simone's mom, Nellie Biles, told Today.
"And I see her doing the same thing, too, with Jordan. And that bond has just — I mean, they fight, believe me. They do fight. We don't get into it. I don't get in the way because the next minute, they're hugging. That's a special relationship that they have."
Two days after graduating high school, Jordan accepted Simone's offer to come down to Texas and train in her gym. It was in this time training with Simone that Jordan found a way to love a sport she once thought she was done with.
"I discovered that gymnastics doesn't always have to be about strictness and being so hard on yourself and having so much doubt," she told The New York Times.
"I actually realized this when I saw Simone compete," she continued.
"She looks like she's having fun out there, laughing and giggling, and doesn't look stressed or tired. I was like, 'You know, I'm going to try that one of these days and see how it turns out.'"
