Skye Blakely, Jordan Chiles, and Shilese Jones open up on being role models to young athletes during Black history month
Jordan Chiles, Skye Blakely, and Shilese Jones are some of America's best gymnasts, bringing home their country laurels from the biggest international competitions. This Black History Month, the trio spoke on what it means to them to be able to inspire a whole new generation of athletes and kids.
Chiles has been a part of the American national team since 2013, and has excelled in her sport. Training alongside Simone Biles in Texas, the 22-year-old is a World Champion and an Olympic medalist. According to Chiles, “the trickle effect” of being inspired and inspiring in turn is what she loves as a gymnast.
“Knowing that you can do so much in the world, whether you're the idol, or someone above you is the idol, and you're taking those bits and pieces from that someone, and the younger generation is being able to take that from you.”
“It's like a trickle effect, I really love that, because it's like, I can look up to somebody and be like ‘okay, this is what they're doing, how can I fix it in a way that it's me that's doing it,’ and the younger generation can be like I got this, but I'm going to do it in my way,” Jordan Chiles told USA Gymnastics.
For Blakely, on the other hand, being able to provide people with confidence in being themselves is a big part of being an international athlete. A two-time World Champion, she also holds a silver and two bronze medals from the 2022 Pan American Championships.
The gymnast opened up about how she wasn't always appreciated for wearing her hair in its natural state during meets, and how she hopes other girls can now look up to her and find confidence in being themselves.
“Being a Black gymnast, I normally compete wearing my hair natural, in my natural state, like curly, and a lot of people don't always feel confident to wear their hair like that, but I want to show that you can always be most confident in your natural self.”
“Because being a younger girl and growing up, my hair wasn't appreciated in the way that I wore it, and I felt like I had to find confidence in that. Now, I wear it like that so others can find confidence in that as well.”
For Jones, inspiring young gymnasts in order to help them push and achieve their dreams is a big responsibility as a role model. Jones herself is a six-time World Championships medalist and a Pan-American champion.
“I coach at the gym and everything, I have a niece that does gymnastics as well, and just inspiring them as much as I can, and just knowing that anybody can do it as well, so just push hard and work hard and anything is possible.”
Jordan Chiles, Shilese Jones and Skye Blakely’s outing at the 2022 World Championships
While Jordan Chiles, Shilese Jones, and Skye Blakely have achieved great success in their own careers, the three joined forces in 2022 at the Liverpool World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. They were joined by Jade Carrey and Leanne Wong.
Together, the five gymnasts got the better of Great Britain in order to secure a gold medal in the team event for America. Also on the podium was Canada in third place. In the finals, Chiles took the lead in the all-around, scoring a 14.400 on the vault, a 14.100 on the uneven bars, a 13.333 on the beam, and a 14.000 on the floor.
Jones competed in the vault, uneven bars, and floor, scoring 13.933, 14.333, and 13.733 respectively. Blakely was only in action on the beam, where she registered 13.266. Individually, Chiles secured a silver in the floor and vault, while Jones did the same in the all-around and uneven bars. Blakely failed to win a medal in an individual event.