Jade Carey is one of the most accomplished gymnasts in the history of USA gymnastics.
A multi-time U.S. and world champion, over the course of a seven-year career as an elite gymnast, Carey was the reigning gold medalist on floor exercise entering the Paris Olympics, thanks to her championship performance in Tokyo in 2021.
Excluding Simone Biles, Carey has an argument to being the best in the world on floor, but she wasn’t Sunday during the qualification round in Paris. Far from it in fact.
Competing on floor, and needing to finish with a top two score among the Americans in order to defend her gold medal, Carey struggled mightily.
She stepped out of bounds twice during her routine and then bowed out of her final tumbling pass and sat down on the floor, exhausted.
“Heartbreaking,” GymCastic wrote on X.
Carey finished with a score of 10.633 on the event, putting her at No. 74 overall on floor in Sunday’s competition. That was good for last among the U.S. gymnasts who competed on floor.
And though she went on to qualify on vault — finishing third overall behind Biles and Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade — Carey was understandably disappointed by her performance.
Immediately after the U.S. finished competing, she told Olympics.com’s Scott Bregman that she had been sick the last few days, unable to eat, making her performance Sunday more than understandable, though no less difficult to accept.
“I haven’t been feeling the best the past few days but I gave it everything I had today,” Carey wrote on X. “Thank you for all the support I have received. I’m so grateful.”
A few hours later, Carey expanded on how she felt about her outing, with a post on Instagram.
“All heart 🤍,” she wrote. “Not the day I was expecting to have but I can’t thank you all enough for the love and support. I am so proud of this team and what we accomplished today. We’re not done yet 🫶.”
Carey had plenty of well wishers, including her teammates.
Wrote Suni Lee on Instagram: “so proud of you. we’re in this together !!❤️.”
Added Hezly Rivera: “So proud of you ❤️.”
Later Sunday, Aly Raisman wrote on X, “You did so well today & I’m so proud of you!!! It Breaks my heart that our society is so hard on athletes that you feel the need to explain yourself 💔. You’re human ❤️. It’s ok to make mistakes. I can’t wait to watch you in the days to come & I hope you feel better ❤️. You inspire so many & remember there are people at home dreaming of one day being just like you 🥰.”
Carey will continue competing in Paris, first in the team final on Tuesday and then in the vault finals on Saturday.
