How Olympic Gymnast Jade Carey Overcomes "Frustrating" Battle With "Twisties"
Jade Carey is Olympic GymnastJadeCarey Overcomes FrustratingBattleWith ready to vault into the 2024 Summer Olympics.
With the Games kicking off in Paris July 26, the Team USA gymnast is deep into preparations for her upcoming routines, and she has developed a foolproof way of dealing with the dreaded "twisties," an issue that can occur when a gymnast's body has difficulty compartmentalizing the exact element they're attempting.
"It's something a lot of us go through," Jade told Elle in an interview published July 17. "It's frustrating, because you can see yourself do it in your head, and you know you know how to do it, because you've done it before, but your body is not allowing you to."
The 24-year-old explained that it got particularly bad a few years ago when she was learning "harder elite tumbling passes," but found herself confusing what she was learning, saying, "It resulted in me not knowing where I was in the air and getting really confused."
So how does she deal with it?
"I always handled those situations by taking a step back, going back to the basics, building it back up again, or going into the pit until you feel really 100 percent confident," Jade said. "It is frustrating to have to go backwards, but it is part of this sport."
Frustration or not, Jade is definitely ready for what the 2024 Paris Olympics have in store, especially after winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, a feat she achieved as an individual competitor and not part of that year's women's gymnastics team.
This year, however, Jade will be repping Team USA alongside fellow Olympians Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Hezly Rivera, and traveling alternates Leanne Wong and Joscelyn Roberson.
"I think this is probably the hardest it's been in a really long time to even make the team," Jade added. "Winning team gold would mean a lot to us girls who do make the team, because we want to show that we're stronger than we were before."
For more about Jade and her journey to the Olympics, keep reading.
"Jaderade," she told NBC Olympics. "It was given to me at gym one day when I was younger."
She is from Phoenix Ariz. She graduated from Mountain Ridge High School in 2018.
Jade has been doing gymnastics since she was a toddler, according to USA Gymnastics.
"I have been in gymnastics for as long as I can remember," she told NBC Olympics. "My parents owned a gym when I was born so I was always in the gym playing. I love the feeling of learning new skills and flying through the air."
She continued, "My parents have been very influential. They were both gymnasts when they were kids and are both coaches now. My dad coaches me."
In addition, Jade's sister Taeva, one of her three siblings, is also a gymnast.
"At home he's just my dad and at the gym he's just my coach," Jade told The Arizona Republic newspaper in January 2020.
In 2017, Brian told Flogymnastics.com, "I knew a long time ago she had potential," adding that he "just didn't want to push her too fast for her, and so we just let her develop at her pace."
"We definitely leave everything gymnastics at the gym," he added. "So we walk out the door and we don't speak about it."
From 2017 to 2019, she earned one gold and three silver.
Jade continued her gymnastics career at Oregon State University. She signed a letter of intent with the college in 2017 and deferred enrollment until the end of the 2020 Olympics. She has been a member of the school's Beavers women's gymnastics team roster since 2022.
Jade's favorite TV shows are Impractical Jokers and Full House, according to USA Gymnastics.
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