Jade Carey has established herself as one of the premier gymnasts in the NCAA scene. She has dazzled many an audience with her sparkling performances. But she has also sparked some widespread discussion after an NCAA gymnastics routine. The audience’s reaction turned to shock and frustration upon receiving the judges’ points. Did the judges wrongly deprive Carey of receiving a score of a perfect 10?

With a career that includes Olympic gold in Tokyo 2020 and another gold at the OOFOS USA National Championship, it is hard to refute Carey’s greatness. Her medal-winning performance of 14.366 in 2021 is still fondly remembered. And her third place in the vault finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics against Simone Biles is still highly lauded. But Jade’s recent ratings at the Gill Coliseum when Oregon hosted Alaska and UC Davis have triggered some debates.

A recent tweet by Oregon State Gymnastics on X highlighted Jade Carey’s stellar performance. “Ladies and gentlemen… Jade Carey. A from one judge and 9.950 from the other, and it’s her third 9.975 of the year on beam!” The main highlight of OSU’s successful performance came when Carey received a score of 9.975 while the team finished with a total of 197.175.

Beavers’ beam performance reached the No. 4 spot nationwide as Sydney Gonzales contributed her own 9.925 to their depth on the event. The perfect 10 score awarded to Carey ignited passionate fan arguments due to widespread feelings that she should have received a score of 10.0 once again. Carey’s brilliance hasn’t been limited to just beam—her dominance has been across all apparatuses.

Carey demonstrated why she earned three Olympic medals during the 2025 NCAA gymnastics season. She brought extraordinary results at BYU by earning 9.900+ scores on all apparatuses. This included the bar and floor tiles that allowed her to secure a national-leading 39.725 total score in the all-around competition. Her vault became the main highlight during the competition. She presented the Yurchenko 1.5 for the first time in her sports career.

According to Carey, the new vault selection was motivated by her pursuit to experiment with fresh routines as well as ease of weekly execution. Her execution of the vault at her last collegiate competition reflected both innovation and adaptability. This was in addition to proving that elite gymnasts have fewer appearances of this skill set.

The near-perfect execution by Carey in her most recent routine sparked an ongoing debate about scoring neutrality since some spectators suspected she deserved a perfect 10 score.

Robbed of perfection? Fans outraged over Carey’s score

Gymnastics fans wasted no time expressing their frustration over Jade Carey’s beam score, with many questioning the judging. “What was the Russian judge thinking? That’s a 10!” one fan wrote, while another expressed curiosity, asking, “So how wasn’t that a perfect 10?” The overwhelming consensus among viewers was that Carey had executed a flawless routine, but the elusive perfect score proved impossible to obtain.

The circumstances led to concerns about judging panel bias. This is because observers suspected international judges might score differently than their American counterparts. Speculation arose about Carey’s Olympic championship status because people thought her past victories had established such a high benchmark that it became practically unattainable to reach perfection.

The criticism continued as others pointed out the apparent flaw in the scoring. “Man, you have to be blind if you do not rate that as a 10,” one fan remarked. While another bluntly called it a “stupid decision” that unfairly denied Carey a perfect score. “Stupid decision; she should have got a perfect score for that.”

Many highlighted the consistency of her performances, arguing that her difficulty, execution, and artistry left no room for deductions. One fan summed up the controversy in a single statement: “Three 9.975’s, more like three times she was screwed out of a perfect score.” The frustration is coming from a pattern in NCAA gymnastics where minor, often subjective deductions seem to prevent athletes from receiving a perfect 10.

It has left fans to wonder: What more does Carey have to do? What are your comments on this? Let us know in the comments.