Happy Birthday, Jade Carey!
Team USA’s Jade Carey turns 20 years old today! In honor of the talented floor and vault-worker’s birthday, we’re taking a look back at some of her career highlights (thus far), as well as some fun facts that you may not have known about the four-time World medalist and future Oregon State gymnast.
As far as her path to the Olympics goes, Carey is currently the only U.S. gymnast to qualify to the Tokyo Games next year after mathematically clinching an individual spot via the International Gymnastics Federation’s (FIG) Individual Apparatus World Cup series.
Career Highlights
2020 Melbourne World Cup | Gold | Vault & Floor Exercise
Carey clinched her individual Olympic berth via the FIG’s individual World Cup series, winning gold on vault and exercise at three different meets from 2019-2020. The most recent of those meets was the Melbourne World Cup where, before coronavirus took over the world, Carey displayed some of her best gymnastics to date, including the above floor routine.
| FIG World Cups | ||
|---|---|---|
 | 2019 Baku | Vault |
| 2019 Baku | Floor Exercise |
| 2019 Doha | Vault |
| 2019 Doha | Floor Exercise |
| 2020 Melbourne | Vault |
| 2020 Melbourne | Floor Exercise |
 | 2018 Cottbus | Vault |
2019 World Championships (Stuttgart) | Silver | Vault
Carey has had tremendous success at World Championships since storming on to the elite scene in 2017, despite not being able to compete at 2018 Worlds. (She would’ve been ineligible to pursue an individual Olympic spot if she had competed at those championships in Doha, Qatar, since the U.S. women qualified a team to Tokyo with their team win at those Worlds.)
In 2017, less than six months after qualifying elite, Carey earned two silver medals on her go-to events, floor and vault, for Team USA at the World Championships in Montreal. After missing out on 2018 Worlds, Carey finally earned a gold medal with her team in Stuttgart before following it up with silver on vault, just behind teammate Simone Biles.
During the vault final in Stuttgart, Carey performed a Cheng and Amanar, earning an average score of 14.883.
Fun fact: Carey qualified to vault finals in first, ahead of Biles, at 2019 Worlds.
| World Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2019 Stuttgart | Team |
| 2017 Montreal | Vault |
| 2017 Montreal | Floor Exercise |
| 2019 Stuttgart | Vault |
U.S. Championships | Six-time medalist
While Carey is well known on her speciality events, she’s no slouch on uneven bars and balance beam, as seen above. The Arizona native has displayed impressive difficulty on all events and can be a solid all-around gymnast for Team USA when needed.
| U.S. Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2017 Anaheim | Vault |
| 2017 Anaheim | Floor Exercise |
| 2018 Boston | Floor Exercise |
| 2019 Kansas City | Vault |
| 2019 Kansas City | Floor Exercise |
 | 2018 Boston | Vault |
Jade Carey Fun Facts
- She started gymnastics at the age of 1.
- Carey graduated from high school in 2018 and was deferring enrollment at Oregon State until after the 2020 Olympics. With the Olympics now postponed, it’s unclear whether Carey will still enroll and compete for OSU this upcoming year (2020-2021 season) or defer one more year.
- She has three siblings: Alexsis, Taeva, and Xandon. Taeva does gymnastics as well.
- Carey is coached by her father, Brian, who she says has been the most influential person throughout her career.
- Her hobbies include archery and off-road driving.
- Two of her favorite TV shows are “Impractical Jokers” and “Full House.”
- Carey has cited Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, and Shawn Johnson as her gymnastics heroes.
- She earned a perfect 10 at the 2016 Junior Olympic National Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, when she successfully completed a tucked Kasamatsu full on vault. That vault is now named after her in the J.O. code of points.
