Even before she became a newly minted Olympic gold medalist this week, gymnast Jordan Chiles had a good feeling headed into Paris for this year’s Games. Sure enough, her gut was spot on: The 23-year-old and her fellow Team USA gymnasts Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera collected gold medals in the women’s artistic gymnastics team final on Tuesday. If you looked closely enough, the celebratory mood extended right down to the glinting surface of Chiles’s teeth, which held a pair of custom grills she’d had made back in Houston for the occasion.
“I got them done before I left and, you know, I was like, What if we win a gold medal?” Chiles tells GQ, speaking by phone from Paris early Thursday. “I had really good faith in us that we were gonna win a gold medal. So I was like, you know what, I’m gonna just bring them with me.”
The 2024 Olympics have already produced a handful of viral style moments, a phenomenon for which Black American women athletes have long set the precedent. (Especially relative to, say, the corniness of American swimmer Ryan Locthe wearing a Paul Wall-designed grill on the Olympic podium in 2012.) From record-smashing sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson’s patriotic acrylics to tennis champ Coco Gauff’s braids streaked with red, white, and blue, this year’s Games are no different.
And inside Bercy Arena on Tuesday, in the heart of the French capital, Chiles was a gloriously American sight: a Black gymnast with her slicked-back bun, gold-flecked acrylic nails, and gleaming diamond grill, beaming proudly on the Olympic podium.
As she gears up to compete again in the floor event on Monday, the gold medalist chatted about her Beyoncé grill inspo (she also wore a Renaissance-inspired leotard in the U.S. Gymnastics Championships back in June), getting iced out in Texas, and the style moves she still has left up her sleeve.
GQ: I can’t even imagine what a whirlwind it’s been these last few days. How are you feeling right now?
Jordan Chiles: Honestly, I’m feeling really good. I’m proud of my team, I’m proud of everybody that was able to go out there and do what they need to do. Now it’s just the next steps: cheering on my teammates [Biles and Lee] in all-around, and everything after that and the finals and all that, so I’m really excited.
It was so cool that you wore grills during the medal ceremony. Why did you decide to wear them?
I got them done before I left and, you know, I was like, What if we win a gold medal? I had really good faith in us that we were gonna win a gold medal. So I was like, you know what, I’m gonna just bring them with me. It was more of a fashion statement for me because I was like, I’m gonna have them with me, I’m probably gonna go do stuff in Paris. You know, this is just Jordan. I was like, You know what, I’m gonna stand on the podium with that gold medal around my neck and I’m gonna have my grills in and see what people say. It was kind of just like me going with the flow of everything. Again, I like fashion a lot, so I felt like in that moment, why not put a fashion piece in my mouth? [Laughs.] Gold and gold, it went well.
So you got them made for this moment in mind—had you worn them before?
No, yeah, I got them made. I always wanted ever since I was younger, so when I finally got to the point where I could do it. Everybody—my family, my friends—were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that would be so cool.’
Were your teammates into the idea?
I told my teammates, I think, the day of. I told Suni [Lee] like either the night or the day of us competing, and I was like, “Suni, I’m gonna put these in.” She was like, “No, you’re not.” I said, “Yeah,” and she was like, “That’s gonna look so good.” I was like, “I hope it does.” [Laughs.] I hope people don’t think I’m being crazy or anything like that.
Oh no, the people loved it. Where did you have them made?
I had them made in Houston [by] this guy, his name is Jimmy Boi. I met him at a Texas playoff game and he was like, “I would love to do a piece for you.” I reached out to him before I left [and] he was like, “Yeah, I’ll get everything sorted out.” So it was really cool having him help me with that. He’s a really dope dude, not gonna lie. He got all it done for me.
And you did the whole process, right? Getting the mold of your teeth?
Yes, literally the mold of my teeth, which I have pictures of and all that. I have a video of me getting my mold that I’ll probably post later.
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