Jade Carey

Jade Carey is well-versed in the art of the comeback. Back in 2021, the 24-year-old took home a gold medal for her iconic floor routine at the Tokyo Olympics just 24 hours after a shaky performance in the vault final. She returning to the 2024 Paris Olympics following a difficult season in 2023 in which she finished 15th in the all-around at the US Championships.

Carey saw both struggles and success in Paris — Jade fell during her floor routine at the qualifying rounds, and later disclosed she had been feeling ill. But she went on to perform a stunning vault that helped her team with the gold medal in the team finals and won an individual bronze medal on Vault!

Carey, who is from Phoenix, Arizona, has followed an unusual career path, participating in both collegiate gymnastics and elite gymnastics — and doing both in an Olympic season. Carey is unmissable on the mat, but not just because of her bouncy blonde ponytail or 5-foot-2 stature. Carey is perhaps best known for her breathtaking floor routines, videos of which have gone viral. She also has a signature vault: a tucked Kasamatsu full that was renamed "the Carey" in 2016 in the Junior Olympic code of point.

Carey was destined to become a gymnast. Both of her parents, Danielle Mitchell-Greenberg and Brian Carey, are former gymnasts, and they owned a gym in Phoenix while raising Carey. Jade has been trained and coached by her father since a young age, and he is often seen at her competitions, coaching and supporting her from the sidelines.

Unlike many elite gymnasts, who start professionally as young as 12, Carey didn't make her debut until she was 17 years old in 2017.From there, she went on to medal multiple times at the US Championships and World Championships, taking home a number of silver and bronze medals in vault and floor. It wasn't long before her skills and work ethic carried her all the way to the Olympic Games by age 20.

In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — which were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic — Carey represented the US as an individual competitor.

After Tokyo, Carey began her studies at Oregon State University, where she is pursuing a degree in Digital Communication Arts. She is also a member of the university's gymnastic team, where her father was hired as an assistant coach in 2023. In her collegiate gymnastics career so far, Carey has racked up five NCAA medals — four silvers in all-around, floor, balance beam, and uneven bars, and a bronze in balance beam. In 2024, Carey performed the unusual feat of competing in both the NCAA and making the Olympic team. Carey has saidshe felt confident in her abilities and her training, and compelled to do both.