Jordan Chiles Gears Up for Senior Year at UCLA With New Media Day Snaps

The gymnast returns to the program on the heels of an NCAA championship appearance in April.

Jordan Chiles / Aric Becker/ISI Photos/Getty Images

In the midst of her stint on Dancing with the Stars, Jordan Chiles is going back to her roots. The Olympic gold medalist—who secured the honor in Paris last year—posted to Instagram on Sunday that she's preparing for her senior season with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) gymnastics team.

The duo of frames, shared to her 1.5 million followers on the app, featured the athlete repping the organization’s signature cobalt blue with a studded, abstract printed leotard. A member of the team since 2022, Chiles enters her fifth and final season with the gymnastics program, following its second place finish at the NCAA championship in April, coming in behind Oklahoma.

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“The queen herself👑💙🤍,” a commenter cheered on the post, with a nod to Chiles’s pose in its cover slide. The 24-year-old held an invisible crown over her head.

“THAT GIRL!!!!” one user agreed.

“Senior year, dancing with the stars, Olympian & published author ... WHAT CANT SHE DO!!” another fan complimented.

Earlier this month, Chiles dove into her packed schedule with PEOPLE, disclosing to the publication that “time management” is “the secret” to her busy agenda. Her head coach at UCLA, Janelle McDonald, elaborated that it is also the athlete’s mindset that sets her apart.

Jordan Chiles and Janelle McDonald / C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos/Getty Images

“[Chiles] really is not your typical student-athlete, as far as the amount of things that she has on her plate, and a lot of them are just amazing opportunities… I don’t think that your average human being can do the things that she does,” McDonald toldGymnastics Now.

“She’s always just been this incredibly hard worker that really brings a joyous energy into the space,” the coach added. “I think even now [she] can do even more, because she’s so good at sort of segmenting each thing that’s on her plate and handling each one with so much intention.”

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Chiles made her Dancing With the Stars debut on the ABC competition show—which celebrates its 20th year on-air this year—just last week, with her partner, Ezra Sosa. The duo notched two fives from judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli for a score of 10/20 following their salsa to Beyoncés “Break My Soul.” Tomorrow, Sept. 23, they’ll perform a jive to Michael Sembello’s “Maniac” for the program’s “One Hit Wonders Night.”

As for how Chiles’s training in the ballroom will align with her preparation with the collegiate team, McDonald told the digital outlet that the show is “really accommodating” with her preseason schedule.

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