In her last shot at a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, future Oregon State Beaver Jade Carey captured her first medal, winning gold in Floor Exercise. Italy’s Vanessa Ferrari won the silver, and Japan’s Mai Murakami and Russia’s Angelina Melnikova tied for the bronze.
— Oregon State Gymnastics (@BeaverGym) August 2, 2021
‼️ JADE IS GOLDEN ‼️@jadeacarey takes the gold medal as the Olympic Champion in the floor exercise! #GoBeavs #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/T1KOqiUWZ4
This was Carey’s third shot at a medal, after also competing in the All Around Final and the Vault Final. Carey was considered a strong contender for a medal after finishing in third place during qualification, behind Ferrari and Simone Biles. After a shaky performance on the Vault a few days ago, Carey recovered to pull off a nearly perfect performance early Monday morning, finishing with a 14.366.
This is Team USA’s second gold in Artistic Gymnastics, after Sunisa Lee won gold in the Women’s All Around. The U.S. has also picked up two silvers (from the Women’s Team Final and Mykayla Skinner on the Vault) and a bronze (Sunisa Lee on Uneven Bars) with just a few events left in Artistic Gymnastics.
Carey is expected to start her Oregon State career in 2022. She signed a letter of intent to compete for Oregon State in 2017, but delayed her start to train for Tokyo. With Oregon State already a strong team nationally, Carey could push the Beavers to sights previously unseen. It would not be shocking to see her competing in Paris in three years.