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Gymnast Jordan Chiles reflects on winning individual bronze medal at 2024 Paris Games: “It was a surreal moment”
Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles won her first ever individual medal at the Paris Games. The 23-year-old was bumped up to bronze from fifth place in the floor final after judges reviewed her difficulty score.
“There were so many emotions going through my body in that moment,” Chiles said in an interview with “CBS Mornings,” adding that no matter what happened in the final, she was proud of herself.
“It was a surreal moment … I saw the score change and I was just like ‘What is going on? Is this real? Is this happening?’ I was just, again, in that moment just very happy and obviously happy for the other athletes as well.”
In the event, Chiles made history as part of the first all-Black Olympic gymnastics podium, alongside teammate Simone Biles, who won silver, and Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade, who won gold.
The Americans honored their competitor by bowing to Andrade when she received her gold medal.
“I felt like when somebody who has done amazing things individually and also through her country, she’s done magnificent through her sport, so I felt like in that moment she was the really only person who had a perfect floor routine. It was well-deserved.”
Chiles said she’s thankful for her friendship with Biles, whom she’s trained alongside. It’s their second Olympic Games together, as they competed at the Tokyo Games. Biles, who walked away from Paris with four more medals and a career total of 11 Olympic medals, also competed in Rio in 2016.
“I couldn’t be more proud of her. She’s encouraged me. She’s had such a huge inspiration on me,” Chiles said of Biles.
And just as Biles has inspired her, Chiles is encouraging others to go after their dreams.
“Always just be authentic to who you are. Don’t let anybody control what you’re doing. It’s your book. You’re writing your own chapters, and kind of just pave a way for what you want your future to look like.”
Chiles also won a gold medal in the women’s team final, completing their “redemption tour” after the team won silver in Tokyo. But this isn’t the end of her gymnastics career. She plans to return to UCLA and compete for the Bruins.
“I plan to go back to school and enjoy the college experience.”
Team USA gymnastics has won a total of 10 medals at the Paris Olympics.
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New documentary explores the private life of “Superman” icon Christopher Reeve
Long before comic book characters dominated movie screens, actor Christopher Reeve made the world believes in superheroes with the 1978 classic “Superman.”
Reeve died in 2004, nearly a decade after an accident re-shaped his life. “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is using interviews with family and friends and never-before-seen home videos to explore his real-life heroism.
Reeve started his career on the stage, studying at the prestigious Juilliard School and living with comedian Robin Williams. The pair had a friendship that was “more like a brotherhood,” said Reeve’s son Matthew. Reeve was in awe of Williams’ energy and versatility, Matthew Reeve said, but audiences quickly clued into Reeve’s own star power when he took on the role of the Man of Steel.
To his children, though, he “was just dad,” Matthew Reeve said. The documentary explores how Matthew Reeve and his sister Alexandra Reeve Givens grew up watching their dad take the stage as Superman. “Super/Man” also reveals their heartbreak over their parents’ breakup and the joy they found when Reeve re-married. He tied the knot with Dana Reeve in 1992, and the pair welcomed another child, William Reeve, later that year.
“Dana was sunshine,” Alexandra Reeve Givens recalled. “She just brought joy with her wherever she was and could find it even in the darkest moments.”
Those dark moments came suddenly, when in 1995, a near-fatal horseback riding accident left Reeve paralyzed from the neck down. The documentary allows viewers to see, for the first time, what went on out of the public’s view. Reeve can be heard talking about how he “ruined (his) life and everybody else’s,” but in a touching moment, old friend Robin Williams is seen visiting him in the hospital.
“Robin showed him ‘Hey, you’re still you,'” Alexandra Reeve Givens said. “‘You still have this foundation of friendship and people around you, who adore you. And you’re going to find those fun moments in life again.'”
That support from friends and family re-ignited Reeve’s legacy of activism. He made appearances at the Democratic National Convention and the 68th Academy Awards in 1996, about a year after the accident. Matthew Reeve said watching his father address his industry peers at the Oscars was “one of (his) most proud moments.”
“It was just a production for him to get out of bed every morning, let alone get across the country and go out in public for the first time,” Matthew Reeve said. “It was a big deal. It was a big deal to him, but it was also a big deal to the entire disability community. We stayed up in London till like three in the morning to watch that live. It’s a fond memory.”
Reeve also went on to launch what would become the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing research into spiral cord injury and help individuals and families impacted by paralysis. It was his dad’s mission to find a cure, Matthew Reeve said, while his stepmother wanted to focus on improving the lives of paralyzed people and their families. The foundation and Reeve’s platform helped bring unprecedented attention and funding to spinal cord injury research.
Reeve even kept acting and realized his lifelong dream of directing with the 1997 HBO movie “In the Gloaming.” Reeve died in 2004 from heart failure at 52.
“There is a huge amount of great actors and actresses out there, where their filmography might be amazing and what they achieve on a cultural level might be amazing, but have they actually achieved anything really as a human that moves the needle for our society?” said filmmaker Ian Bonhote, who made the documentary with Peter Ettedgui. “And Chris has done both things.”
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will open in theaters on Friday, Oct. 11.
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