PARIS — Last week, Jade Carey was fighting an illness − ‘throwing up’ and unable ‘to eat or anything’ in the days leading up to the qualifying round at the 2024 Paris Games.
On Saturday, she won a third career Olympic medal − and a redemptive one at that.
Carey earned bronze in the vault final at Bercy Arena with an average score of 14.466, finishing behind only compatriot Simone Biles − who won yet another gold at these Games − and Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who took silver. It’s the second individual medal of Carey’s her Olympic career, and a meaningful one after what happened in Tokyo, where she was heavily favored in this event but stumbled on the runway and missed the podium. (She did win gold on floor exercise in Tokyo.)
‘This medal means everything to me,’ Carey said. ‘It was one of my biggest motivators to get back here and be in the vault final. To be able to prove myself, and prove to myself that I can do two vaults in a final, and to walk away with a medal is really special for me.’
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Carey went last in Saturday’s final, looking to force her way onto the podium with the final two vaults of the day.
‘Definitely I felt the pressure start building. I was like, ‘Really? I’ve got to be last? After I’ve anticipated this for so long?’ But I really just tried to keep to myself, stay focused on what I needed to do,’ Carey said.
On her first attempt, she hit a Cheng, which is the second-most difficult vault being performed in the world today. She then followed it up with a double-twisting Yurchenko, nearly sticking the landing to move ahead of North Korea’s An Chan-ok, who ultimately finished fourth.
‘I was pretty confident and knew I did everything that I could have done,’ Carey said.
Carey had actually planned to do a harder second vault, but it didn’t make sense given that she’s still trying to regain her strength after being sick. Carey’s father and coach, Brian, missed podium training on July 25 because he was sick. Carey said she started throwing up after podium training, and she was petrified it would cost her the chance to compete. The U.S. women had qualifying on July 27.
But she forced herself as much as she could and stay hydrated, and tailored her training to conserve her energy. She made it through qualifying, and did a terrific vault in team finals to help the U.S. women claim the gold medal.
Still, when they were in the warmup gym Saturday, Carey didn’t even warm up either of her vaults.
‘I need to save it for when I’m out there or I’m not going to be able to do it when I’m out there,’ she said.
She did it, though, and now she’s a three-time Olympic medalist.
‘It’s been so much fun … and I think that’s bringing out the best gymnastics from us,’ Carey said. ‘We all wanted redemption in some way, and I think we all got it.’
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.