Simone Biles recently made history at the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships by winning her eighth national title. Days later, another Olympic legend took everyone back to the lowest point in American gymnastics history. Simone Biles had just abandoned the vault event in the 2020 Tokyo Games after winning two gold medals. Next in line for the contention for the gold medal was 21-year-old Jade Carey. However, Carey was thrown out of the medal contention by a singular mishap.

Jade Carey has been through plenty of ups and downs in her illustrious gymnastics career. The most harrowing setback in her life came in the 2020 Tokyo Games at the vault final. But the very next day, she made a 360-degree turn and walked away with a gold medal at the floor exercise final. Now, as she prepares for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Oregon State University, Jade Carey revealed the advice that changed her life forever.

Jade Carey’s transformative advice from her dad

Jade Carey was a specialist in the vault event and was favored for the gold in 2021. However, as she was running up to the apparatus, Carey took a huge stumble. The Phoenix native got back on the vault for the sake of her team, but by then, the nerves had already gotten to her. Instead of the complicated Cheng, she executed the tucked Yurchenko. The score of 11.933 reflected her mistake and disappointed her to the core. Recently, in the Shift podcast, the American gymnastics legend shared how the loss “completely devastated” her. A video clip from the whole podcast was shared on the ‘quotesbychristie’ Instagram account. It told the story of her resilience and support system, which was captured in the video’s caption that read, “What words help someone become an Olympic gold medalist and one of the world’s most elite gymnasts?”

The video began with Jade Carey narrating her feelings of devastation and embarrassment after the vault final. She felt that there was no coming back from that defeat and that her gymnastics career was over. She had lost her zeal for the floor exercise final the next day. Before the event, she went to the gym, and her dad gave her a pep talk. He said, “Just because yesterday was the worst day of your life doesn’t mean that today can’t be the best day of your life”. This advice resonated with her and made all the difference in the floor exercise final.

Jade Carey sees her first Olympic gymnastics triumph

Her dad’s words made Jade Carey realize that she had one more chance to earn Olympic glory in the floor exercise final. She exhibited a stunning performance and earned herself a score of 14.366. This was the best qualifying score of the night and earned the 21-year-old the title of the best tumbler in the world. Her teammates had pushed her to give her best, with Simone Biles also saying, “Let’s go out and kill floor”. The whole team celebrated Jade Carey’s victory because it marked the fifth gold medal for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team in Tokyo.

Read More: Simone Biles’ Biggest Competition: The Challengers at US Classics 2023

Now, almost two years later since the Tokyo Games, Jade Carey’s Olympic ambitions are as strong as ever. She has been enjoying tremendous success as a NCAA athlete, but now she has begun training for the Olympics. With her returning to the elite championship, the chances of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team may have just gotten better.

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