Let's talk about Jordan Chiles

[ArnoldRimmer]

It does indeed, although money buys you a lot of fucks to not give. But fortunately for Simone, she’s also immensely successful and has two citizenships.

Again this isn’t a comment on what she’s going to do, because nobody who doesn’t know her can tell us that. Only an explanation that her situation allows her lots and lots of options.

 

[KristyJ]

I wonder if she’s still staying in the undecided realm because it also gives her more sway over things like USAG

 

[JaJa]

I’ve seen a few people mention the Belize option, has she ever expressed a desire to compete for Belize?

I could be dreaming this up but I thought she made some very vague reference to the possibility at some point. But I can not imagine her ever actually doing it.

 

[JaJa]

Simone already has a whole group of haters because she “walked out on the American team” and “quit the Olympics”.
There is a whole SIMONE IS A QUITTER movement on social media.

If there were not already dozens of reasons to hate social media this alone would be enough of one to pray that it all just blows up.

 

[Beamer]

How have the discourse and opinions (either in general or yours in particular) about Chiles changed from her Tokyo performance to her Liverpool double EF silver performance?

Is she seemingly gaining confidence or better ability to perform under pressure?

There is talk in this thread post-Tokyo about her routines rightfully being hit harder in execution there than nationally. Do people still think this is true? Or did Jordan not have, for example, her best executed floor routine in Tokyo Qualifications?

Did Jordan improve on built-in deductions by Liverpool and hence the individual silvers? Was it smarter routine construction? Just a matter of hitting?

Did Jordan benefit from a lower level of overall vaulting in Liverpool EF? How likely do you think she’ll have a Cheng come Paris? What, if anything, do you think she will need in terms of gains in D or E on FX to medal in Paris if she makes the team?

I have some opinions on these things, but I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts.

Either way, it’s nice to see Jordan finally have more individual success!

 

[KristyJ]

I think the way the national team staff handled Jordan’s prelims beam last year was the best thing for her mentally, especially given how she went and hit a pretty lights out meet after that point. They showed the confidence in her that she needed to have in herself, and I think it gave her the boost needed. And since she lived up to it, hopefully it continues to lift her!

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Good questions.

I think Tokyo prelims was a mixture of some regression since the domestic season and being in front of judges who weren’t going to ignore deductions. The skills were not well chosen.

Vault, yes obviously, if nothing else Andrade would’ve beaten her under normal circumstances. And I say that as someone who’d have loved to see Jordan take vault. I prefer her beautiful Lopez to Jade’s wonky Cheng any day. I would be surprised if she’s not working on a Cheng and I’m going to say yes, we’ll see it next year. With no basis at all other than vibes.

In terms of consistency, my worry is that Jordan’s missed routines in major competitions have a tendency to turn into a complete shitshow. We’ve talked on here before about how damage limitation after a fall is an important skill, since in team competition in particular it’s often not fatal. But then, in order to learn that skill, you have to have the falls in the first place… so obviously it’s still better on the whole that she didn’t get any more practice in how to deal with a fall after she bombed beam in Liverpool prelims.

 

[Doug1233]

Jordan with a Cheng could be a legitimate AA and VT threat. I would imagine she could hold her layout shape all the way through; unlike Rebecca. And I don’t see Andrade doing an Amanar again.

 

[ucrgirl]

I absolutely agree. She really impressed me at worlds (prelims beam aside). She seems to be growing in confidence and cleaning up a little (or the judges are relaxing). Maybe when she has a full year to train elite (and her coaches stuff difficulty into those routines) the form will regress.

 

[navyblue]

Blockquote

There is talk in this thread post-Tokyo about her routines rightfully being hit harder in execution there than nationally. Do people still think this is true? Or did Jordan not have, for example, her best executed floor routine in Tokyo Qualifications?

Did Jordan improve on built-in deductions by Liverpool and hence the individual silvers? Was it smarter routine construction? Just a matter of hitting?

To me Jordan Chiles’ floor score in Tokyo quals was the best example of sheer negligence by domestic judges when it came to judging artistry. The tumbling and dance skills alone don’t make up for it (because for christ’s sake they still let her do that ridiculous double wolf turn in 2022 and she still scored a 14.000 with it) – but her routine at Worlds finally had a performance quality on par with the Tokyo floor finalists, which I thought was actually a really solid group in that regard (other than the gold medalist, ha).

What, if anything, do you think she will need in terms of gains in D or E on FX to medal in Paris if she makes the team?

Ditch the wolf turn and gogean.

Did Jordan benefit from a lower level of overall vaulting in Liverpool EF? How likely do you think she’ll have a Cheng come Rio? What, if anything, do you think she will need in terms of gains in D or E on FX to medal in Paris if she makes the team?

Sort of, but vault is frequently the least competitive final even in olympic games, so nothing particularly extraordinary there. Obviously, Andrade has the skill to have scooped a gold from Jade, then again maybe she would have biffed again, who knows. I think her Lopez is looking like a promising precursor to a Cheng, so yes.

 

[makam]

It is an interesting conundrum. You think Jordan (and Jade) would benefit from not stuffing difficulty into their routines and working on execution and artistry…but that is only to a point. There is no point in killing yourself when the judges are going to find some artistry deductions and your E score isn’t going to be above 8.8 on anything other than vault. So you will need the D score to go higher…until diminishing returns happens. It is a difficult balance to achieve these days, I would think. too much difficulty = too many deductions. Not enough difficulty + capped E score = not a high enough score.

Max out the dismount and hope the judges forget the rest? (was it Jordan or Jade who had the really bad BB dismount that they were barely getting around? Whichever one, they should not do that again. And Jordan should kill the wolf turn on floor–it can’t possibly be worth it.)

 

[RichardL]

Jordan Chiles posted scores at Worlds across the events that would have beaten Shilese for silver in the AA if she’d qualified and put it all together. She’s already a legitimate AA threat, and a Cheng (which clearly she’s working) will put her into the top contenders.

 

[Doug1233]

Jordan Chiles posted scores at Worlds across the events that would have beaten Shilese for silver in the AA if she’d qualified and put it all together. She’s already a legitimate AA threat, and a Cheng (which clearly she’s working) will put her into the top contenders.

Out of curiosity what would Shilese and Jade have scored if you put all these best routines together?

Of course, you’re not an AA threat if you can’t stay on the beam in prelims. She’s 0 for 2 on that front.

 

[RichardL]

Jones: 55.999
Chiles: 56.033
Carey: 55.366

Jones and Chiles are very evenly matched when they both hit.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

The interesting thing is, Jordan might still have made the AA final in Liverpool with just one fall. There was about 1.1 between her and Jade, and a 12.5 would’ve done it. Which goes back to the point again about preventing a fall from turning into a disaster.

 

[Doug1233]

what did she fall on again?

 

[rlayt]

Beam

 

[KristyJ]

You know, the astonishing thing about that routine is how very solid she was except the two falls where she just totally misses a foot.

 

[MaryClare]

Yeah…solid except for 2 falls. I have a bridge to sell you

 

[onodian]

Solid except for the falls, aka, a Chinese beam