Jade Carey’s ever-radiant persona may never reveal the challenges she faced last year when making a career-defining decision. She had to choose whether to continue both elite and college gymnastics, a choice that took a serious toll on her physically and mentally. The Arizona native had to live up to her Tokyo Olympics floor exercise victory in subsequent competitions, facing enormous expectations. Unfortunately, the results were disappointing.

In the 2023 US Championships, Jade Carey ranked 15th in the all-around, while her signature floor exercise event saw her finishing in 11th place—a result she had never faced before. Now, she has decided to open up about those experiences. On Wednesday, Jade shared many behind-the-scenes moments and expressed her emotions during that challenging time. Expressing her emotions in that situation, the 24-year-old gymnast added, “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I made the right decision because I was left off the worlds team and I didn’t have a great year in elite.” Notably, the 15th place or 11th place finish could never help Jade Carey in finding a place in the US national gymnastics team in the women’s category for the upcoming World Artistic Gymnastics Championships contest. 

However, she had her turn in the 2023 Swiss Cup, scheduled on November 5, in Zurich. But her dismissal from the world championship team was there to keep her reeling. Remember, she has seven medals from that global contest, including three golds. So, missing such a high-profile contest before the Paris Olympics year was going to hurt her. As a result, Jade Carey started to question everything. “I started to kind of second-guess myself and my gymnastics”, as she mentioned in the same press conference in Corvallis on Wednesday.

On the other hand, that mental state affected her NCAA performance as well. In the 2023 NCAA Championship, Jade Carey failed to top the individual balance beam event. Therefore, she needed a magic wand to change her gymnastic life entirely from that complicated status. And Jade Carrey found an inevitable one to end that dire state. 

Jade Carey finds light at the end of the tunnel 

A few timely decisions controlled Jade Carey from the ridge of facing a burnout condition in the sport. Her father and personal coach, Brian Carey, joined her at Oregon State, whereas the University coaches Tanya and Michael Chaplin looked toward having a unique approach. As a part of that, Jade didn’t have to compete in the all-around event in the initial NCAA season. Thus, her fitness found a way to rejuvenate. Also, she tried to concentrate on the uneven bars and balance beam schedules only. That proved to be beneficial for her elite gymnastics preparation as well. Meanwhile, Jade Carey started to find her mojo back. 

Coming to February this year, she was all set to compete in all the gymnastics schedules. Furthermore, in elite gymnastics as well, she ended 2023 with a victory in the Swiss Cup, teaming with Yul Moldauer. That streak continued this year as well. 

In the 2024 American Classic, Jade took the top podium in the all-around whereas in the Core Hydration Classic, she became champion in the vault event. Soon, the Beavers’ standout took a higher jump as she qualified for the US Olympic gymnastics trials in Minnesota. On the penultimate day, all her hard work and timely decisions paid off as Jade Carey earned her second Olympic ticket but this time, an all-round qualification came down on her fate. Now moving forward to her positive outcome, the happy-face gymnast could add, “And just reminding myself of how good I am, and not letting last year define that for me.” Let that emotion be the final.