Jordan Chiles Recalls the Moment She Realized She Wasn’t Being Treated Fairly as a Black Athlete (Exclusive)

Jordan Chiles is sharing her experience facing racism in gymnastics.

The Olympic gymnast, 23, authored memoir I’m That Girl: Living the Power of My Dreams (out March 4 via Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) and in a new interview with PEOPLE, she recalls first becoming cognizant of feeling “different.”

“The first time that I finally realized that I wasn’t going to be able to be a typical athlete was the judging,” Chiles says. “I’m literally doing almost the exact same thing as any other person, but why am I not getting the same scores?”

Chiles first fell in love with the sport at the age of 6 — she was a rambunctious child, and gymnastics helped her expend her energy, never mind the fact that she was a natural talent.

By the time she competed in her first level 4 meet at the age of 7, Chiles says she had already “realized” that her “skin color” left the judges struggling to “acclimate.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

As she aged, the disparity only worsened.

“Everything was different,” she says. “[Judges] didn’t know what to do with [me] because it was like, ‘She’s talented, yes, but she’s curvy,’ or people would tell me that I ‘look like a man’ or ‘you shouldn’t be here’ or ‘you don’t deserve to be in the sport.’”

Chiles writes in her memoir about how — with the exception of 2008 gold medalist Shawn Johnson — most elite gymnasts weren’t shaped like Chiles was. Her body that visibly showcased her strength in a sport that favored lean athletes, and three-time Olympian Dominique Dawes was the only Black gymnastics star Chiles grew up watching at all.

The advent of social media hasn’t helped quell racist commentary, either. Chiles says when she was finally old enough to join the platforms, she would wonder “‘Why are these people telling me all these things when I’m literally doing the exact same thing as everybody else?'”

“It was definitely something I had to push past,” she says.

For more on Jordan Chiles, subscribe now to PEOPLE or pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday. 

Chiles is now a junior at UCLA, where she competes on the gymnastics team. Away from the spotlight, even for brief moments, she’s says she’s loving life as a college kid.

“A lot of people don’t get the opportunity or have the ability to be a student athlete, and I get to embrace that and enjoy that,” Chiles says. “And I continue to strive for greatness every single day. I mean, my team is doing amazing. We’re getting better each and every week, and I am honored to be a part of that.”