SANTIAGO, Chile — Jordan Chiles, the United States’ flagbearer at the opening of the Pan American Games on Friday, led the women’s gymnastics team to a gold medal on Sunday.
The U.S. topped the all-round women’s competition with 165.196 points, with a big push from Chiles to give the Americans their sixth straight women’s team gold at the Pan American Games.
“There’s so many more dreams in this little body of mine,” said Chiles, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. “It was really cool to be the flagbearer, then coming out here to win gold with an amazing team.”
The United States’ main rival was a Brazil team led by Rebeca Andrade, an Olympic gold medalist and a friend of Biles’.
“Knowing I am the veteran, I trust these younger ones,” Chiles said of teammates Kayla DiCello, Zoe Miller, Kaliya Lincoln and Tiana Sumanasekera . “They are not that much younger than me, so being able just to see their progress and do what they did … I wouldn’t change this team for anything.”
The Brazilians scored 161.564 points. Andrade sat out the floor exercise to spare her knees, and her teammates made mistakes in the uneven bars that distanced them from the U.S. team.
Canada finished with the bronze medal with a distant 154.230 points.
Chiles, 22, topped the all-round chart with 54.666 points, 0.101 ahead of DiCello, the 2021 world all-around bronze medalist.
Chiles is weighing competing in the Paris Olympics or returning for her junior year at the University of California.
Source : ESPN