Team USA Gymnast Jade Carey Wins Gold in Olympics Floor Finals
This is her first Olympic Games and first gold medal.
Jade Carey took home her first Olympic medal—gold for her impressive individual floor exercise final at the Tokyo Olympics. Carey was the only U.S. competitor in this final after Simone Biles opted out to work on her mental health, but the pressure of being the only gymnast defending the U.S. looked nonexistent as Carey effortlessly tumbled her way to a score of 14.366 on August 2nd.
Carey scored the gold medal after completing all four of her tumbling passes without issue in a routine that included nine flips and six twists. The Phoenix, Arizona, native stepped into the floor exercise competition last week after Biles pulled out, after having not originally qualified because she came in third behind Biles and gold medalist Suni Lee, who recently placed first in the women’s all-around individual event.
Yesterday, Carey had a somewhat rough day on the vault and placed eighth. “Coming back from a day like yesterday, I’m really proud of myself for being able to put that behind me and finish with probably the best floor routine I’ve ever done in my life,” Carey said, per NPR, after sticking her routine.
“Simone especially was helping me let it go and move on. She said: ‘It happened, and you can’t do anything about it.’ She was like, ‘Let’s go out and kill floor,’ and that’s what I did.”
This is Carey’s first Olympic Games, and her first medal (no doubt the first of many more to come). Tuesday, August 3rd, is the last day of the women’s artistic gymnastics competition, and Biles is slated to make her return on the balance beam alongside Lee.