Jade Carey fights through illness to win a second medal in Paris, a bronze on vault

PARIS (AP) — Jade Carey and her coach, Brian Carey — also known as Dad at home — plot out her gymnastics career on a massive desk calendar.

The training sessions are written in pencil, a nod to the importance of being flexible because things happen, particularly when you're 24 and have been flipping and twisting — and landing — for most of your life.

The meets, however, are written in pen. Not that one was required when it came to the date of the Olympic vault final. Jade memorized it long ago.

She tripped in the same event three years ago in Tokyo, a stumble that left her shaking and fuming. She vowed there would be no repeat if she made it to Paris.

And when the moment arrived on Saturday, the date long circled on the calendar will now serve as something else, too: the anniversary of when she won the third medal of her Olympic career.

Carey, who struggled to keep down fluids because of a stomach virus earlier in the Games, threw two excellent vaults to finish a strong third behind superstar teammate Simone Biles and Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and give her the “redemption” she'd long sought.

It didn't matter that she won a world championship on vault in 2022. Yes, the medal was nice. But it wasn't the Olympics.

“We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, and it was one of my biggest moments to get back here," Carey said. “I wanted to be able to prove myself that I can do two vaulting finals and walk away with a medal.”

In another era, Carey's two-vault average of 14.466 might have been good enough to sneak a little higher up the podium. Not during the Biles era. That hardly mattered to Carey, who called her teammate an “inspiration.”

Carey's got a pretty good story — and pretty good gymnastics — in her own right. She headed to Oregon State after the Tokyo Olympics and found she thrived in the team atmosphere while still maintaining her elite skills.

She won three medals at the 2022 world championships — including a gold on vault — then scaled things back a bit. Brian Carey developed a long-term plan with Paris in mind, though it was difficult at times for his daughter to get on board.

“She likes to go 100 mph sometimes,” he said.

Call it the byproduct of her athleticism. She is one of the best tumblers and vaulters of her generation and has a floor exercise gold medal from the Tokyo Games to prove it. The irony is that vault is the medal — besides the team one she helped the “Golden Girls” secure on Tuesday — she always wanted.

Jade tried to stay patient during the spring and early summer as her father put together a program designed to have her peak at the U.S. Olympic trials.

They both realized her best shot at making the five-woman team was as a specialist on vault and floor. So they backed off on uneven bars and balance beam a bit and focused on her strengths.

It worked to perfection. At least until she arrived in Paris. Both Careys fell ill, first Brian, then Jade, who struggled through the floor exercise in qualifying, spoiling a shot at another medal.

She recovered enough to drill her Cheng in the team final and kept vowing to U.S. national team doctors she was going to be ready for the vault. She certainly looked it while bringing her career Olympic medal total to three.

The trip in Tokyo still stings. Yet it also helped propel her back to this point.

“I’ve really been able to learn how strong of a person I am and like, been able to push through some of my gymnastics, in different hard situations,” she said. “So I really learned a lot about myself.”

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games