Jade Carey Almost Met a “Devastating” End to Elite Gymnastics Before Paris Olympics Win

When Jade Carey fell down on the floor in the 2024 Team Qualifiers, little did anyone give her a chance to achieve something significant in Paris. However, Carey proved everyone wrong and came back strongly to propel her team to a place in the finals. And if that wasn’t enough, Jade Carey just completed her redemption as she secured a third-place finish in the women’s vault final moments ago. 

Going up against names like Ellie Black, Simone Biles, and Rebeca Andrade, Carey showed her class to clinch the bronze medal in Paris. Performing in Vault 1, Carey took a score of 14.733 and followed it up with 14.200 to secure third place with a total score of 14.466. This was a stark contrast to how things panned out a couple of years ago in Tokyo 2020. 

Jade Carey almost quit her elite career after her Tokyo debacle

Being an NCAA phenom, Jade Carey was the hot favorite to pick up a medal in Tokyo. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out according to plan. And after her falter in the vaults, Carey wanted to go back to college and retire from elite gymnastics altogether. Quoting Jade Carey’s words, “I thought after the Olympics I would be done and just go to college and enjoy it.”

In an exclusive interview with Olympics.com, Jade Carey mentioned how she felt right after she missed her steps in Tokyo. Slipping on her runway did not do Carey any good, as, despite Simone Biles’ absence, she was out of contention. Posting a mere 11.933 on her event final in Tokyo, Carey’s hopes were dashed. However, putting aside her vault debacle, Jade Carey came back strongly to clinch the gold medal in floors to complete a part of her redemption. The other part, well, it was a long, 4-year wait. 

The young Carey remained determined and vowed to her dad that she would work hard and come back again to redeem herself on the biggest stage of the sporting world. Elaborating on her main driving force for coming to Paris in 2024, Carey stated, “So that would be my main reason, was vault. I just feel like… obviously, that mess up was devastating for me, and so I kind of just want that chance to redo that.”

So she quit the idea of retiring from elite gymnastics and went back to the basics to begin her redemption. Representing the Oregon State Beavers, Carey made the best use of her years leading up to Paris. She won 4 silver and 1 bronze during 2022–2024. Her impeccable performances earned her the honor of being named USA Gymnastics Athlete of the Year in 2022. She also clinched the Pac-12 Gymnast of the Year award and the Oregon State University Female Athlete of the Year award in 2023 and 2024, respectively. And when Jade Carey notched up 111.350 at the US trials, standing on the fourth pedestal, she knew her time had come. 

Jade Carey completes her redemption despite not being at her best

Jade Carey did not have the perfect start to the Olympics. After her fall in the qualifiers, Carey took to her X account to announce her illness. She said that she did not feel 100% healthy but decided to power through the pain as she did not want to let her team down. Reflecting on how her Olympic week started. Jade Carey said, “I started my week throwing up, so that was kind of hard because it just takes all your energy… You can’t eat, you feel like you just want to lay in bed, but I didn’t really have time to lay in bed. I, obviously, really wanted to compete.”

Carey started with a Cheng vault that she nailed perfectly. Following her second attempt, Carey attempted an Amanar vault, with an initial difficulty of 5.6. However, downgrading on the difficulty, Carey performed two full twists instead of the usual 2 and a half. Carey landed with a near-stick to finally complete the redemption that she had waited for since Tokyo.