As glamorous as the gymnasts look on the global stage, their story usually holds a plethora of hardships. Having said so, US gymnastics legend Jade Carey is no exception. The 23-year-old who finished with a bronze at the 2022 World Championships, has planned her return at the Olympics this year. But what’s “going to be different and hard” wouldn’t be unachievable after all.

But Carey’s careful steps towards Olympic glory would mean that she’s keeping away from her university competitions recently. She, who had ended the 2023 NCAA season with the most honorable title of the highest-ranked all-around athlete, had a journey which was not a bed of roses. Shedding light on it, the 23-year-old engaged in a candid conversation with Olympics.com.

Jade Carey had challenges to overcome

In the past year, Jade Carey’s US National performance was like a touch and go. She, who can outclass her senior comrade Simone Biles in the vault discipline, had faced a hard blow. As the latter fell short in vault, Carey only competed on the balance beam. Though her World Championships qualifier day 1 placed her far from the sixth seat, the 23-year-old had secured a name at the 2023 Swiss Cup. But her words “I think the past month or so has been pretty challenging for me,” still resonate. The quote resurfacing at the Olympics.com was followed by another challenging phrase.

She said, “I was to the point where I had all my skills and everything was going great, but getting the final routines together has been a little bit of a struggle for me.” The aforementioned words are not unlikely, since the  3X Pac-12 Champion had previously stressed about her routines. But her forthcoming goals are strong this time.

Carey’s immediate goal of grabbing the limelight

“I want to get back [to the Olympics] and prove to myself that I can do it” came out of the mouth of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics floor champion. When her partnership with the legendary Yul Moldauer from the men’s team shined through at the 2023 Swiss Cup, she resumed dreaming.

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She further said to Olympics.com, “But also I’ve just seen myself improve so much, in the all-around especially, that I want to be able to go out there and show everyone that I’m not just vault and floor, that I can do everything and that I’ve worked so hard.”But her proudest moment currently is attending Oregon State University, where her father’s role as an assistant coach serves as her motivation.

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