US’ Jade Carey competes in the vault event of the artistic gymnastics women’s qualification during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on July 28, 2024. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP) (Photo by LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)
(Spoiler alert below)
When Jade Carey stepped up to the vault after a devastating floor fall that saw one of her best events foiled at the 2024 Olympics, no one in the stands was more nervous than her mom.
But when Carey went on to nail her vault routine in a stunning reversal from her previous Olympic appearance, which saw her win a gold medal in floor after a heartbreaking vault performance, her mom, a former gymnast herself, watched it all.
Carey, whose dad is her gymnastics coach, fell in what was expected to be her best event -- floor -- dropping out of contention for a potential gold repeat.
She ended with a score of 10.633.
Shortly after her troubling fall, Carey stepped up the vault.
Completing both passes, with a sigh of relief, Carey saw a score of 14.433.
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And that relief was visible as her mother, Danielle Mitchell-Greenberg, screamed, then quickly burst into tears from the stands.
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The performance helped Team USA as they secured their spot in the women's gymnastics team all-around finals.
The squad of Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Carey and Hezly Rivera produced the high total score of 172.296 at the subdivision 2 qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday.
The U.S. was followed by Italy (166.861), China (166.628), Great Britain (160.830) and Romania (159.497).
Four gymnasts from each team perform each event, with the lowest score in the group being dropped. The teams with the eight highest scores across five subdivisions advance to the final.
The U.S., which took silver in the team final at the Tokyo Olympics, had the top three all-around performers with Biles (59.566), Lee (56.132) and Chiles (56.065).
Lee's score qualifies her for the Olympic all-around final by 67 thousandths of a point over Chiles.
The women's team final is at 11:15 a.m. CT on Tuesday, July 30 at 12:15 p.m. It will air on NBC and Peacock. Individual finals will be held between Thursday, Aug. 1 and Monday, Aug. 5.
