Chae (verb).

To land short or trip and cover it up with choreography from Chae Campbell’s 2021 floor routine.

Following Campbell’s freshman season with UCLA gymnastics, the graduate student never expected to become the face of a meme.

Campbell showed up to competitions and did what she knew best – perform. Her performances earned her a Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honor and a fifth-place finish on beam at the 2021 national championships.

But with the 2022 season came a new verb – Chae – for gymnastics fans.

The meme originated in 2021 on X, formerly Twitter, by user @sunisezhova. A member of the online gymnastics community – or rather the “gymternet” – the user edited landings of other gymnasts, cutting to choreography from Campbell’s freshman year floor routine.

In the routine, Campbell bends down to put her hand on the floor. She kicks her leg into the air behind her and stomps her foot on the ground, alternating stomps between the right and left sides of her supporting leg.

The real reason she messed up on her double pike was a Chae tribute pic.twitter.com/vo0mUoYXfv

— sam (@sunisezhova) January 17, 2022

“I first saw it, and it took me by surprise because it was a normal video, and then it cut to me,” Campbell said. “It made me laugh so much, and I love it. … It is so funny what becomes a meme – you don’t think much of it.”

The meme is playfully used when gymnasts land short on a tumbling pass. Though landing short is not ideal in gymnastics, the meme gives gymnasts an outlet to laugh at their misfortunes in a sport typically known for its seriousness and rigor.

The meme – which blazed across the gymternet in no time – is now made almost immediately after a gymnast completes a short landing. It’s even crept into Campbell’s daily life, where she and her friends banter about the meme inside and outside of the gym.

Assistant coach BJ Das, the mastermind behind UCLA gymnastics’ choreography, said the videos are good for the sport.

“I absolutely loved it. I love when things aren’t taken too seriously and when something becomes popular in a different way,” Das said. “Gymnastics, historically, has been such a serious, intense sport. I think it’s fun when people can just have fun with it.”

Campbell’s meme contributes to the Bruins’ storied viral floor culture. Das, a member of the Bruin coaching staff since 2020, has been the sole choreographer of UCLA’s routines since legendary head coach Valerie Kondos Field stepped down after a 29-year stint.

Kondos Field was responsible for choreographing the viral floor routines of Katelyn Ohashi and Sophina DeJesus, which have accumulated millions of views on a multitude of social media platforms for being dynamic and crowd-engaging.

Das took the work ethic she developed as a high-level gymnast herself and applied that to her dance, eventually becoming the choreographer for one of the nation’s most prestigious gymnastics programs – UCLA.

“It felt like a full-circle moment for me to be a part of UCLA gymnastics because as an athlete, I always looked up to UCLA, and I was especially inspired by their floor routines,” Das said. “I figured they wouldn’t need me because they had Val (Kondos Field), so when the opportunity was there, I was really grateful to be a part of that.”

UCLA has long been hailed for its dynamic floor routines, with athletes such as Campbell continuing that tradition. Kondos Field leveraged her dancing experience to establish the legacy – despite her lack of formal gymnastics training – and helped lead the Bruins to seven NCAA national championships.

When Das replaced Kondos Field as UCLA’s new choreographer, expectations were high.

“It felt like big shoes to fill and a lot of pressure,” Das said. “I walked into a team that was already valuing performance and artistry.”

Alongside Campbell’s routine, Das is credited as the brains behind the engaging floor routines of alumni Margzetta Frazier, Nia Dennis and Sekai Wright – to name a few.

UCLA consistently steals national headlines with its floor routines, most recently with Nya Reed’s Delta Sigma Theta-inspired exercise.

“Going viral is not necessarily the goal, ever,” Campbell said. “If you’re focusing too much on going viral, it’s not going to be as good. It’s just making it a routine that you enjoy.”

In light of the meme’s popularity, Campbell and Das reused the same section of viral choreography from her freshman year in her senior year routine.

“It was a pretty easy decision because of how much it caught on and how much it made people laugh,” Campbell said. “There was no way I was going to do a senior year routine and not have it in there.”

Fans in Pauley Pavilion quickly caught on, sparking another Campbell-inspired influx of memes.

The meme’s impact has transcended the scope of just the gymternet. Campbell and her friends now use the term “Chae” in their day-to-day conversations as a staple in their vocabulary.

“One time I Chae’d my own self in practice,” Campbell said. “We will make it into a joke, … but it’s okay because everyone laughs.”

Even Campbell’s teammates like graduate student Frida Esparza have been victim to the “Chae” – but Esparza reacted differently when first catching sight of the videos.

“I felt so honored,” Esparza said. “They edited a video of me with my best friend. … I would actually feel better about the fall and be like, ‘You know what, something good came out.’”

Campbell is seemingly running out of accomplishments to check off her gymnastics bucket list. She’s notched perfection on floor thrice, earned eight All-American recognitions and had her routine spread like wildfire on the internet.

The 2025 season will be Campbell’s final chance to make her mark at UCLA.