Who is Jade Carey, gymnast replacing Simone Biles in Olympic all-around?
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By Michelle Ewing, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
TOKYO — Following Simone Biles’ withdrawal from Thursday’s all-around final at the Tokyo Olympics, USA Gymnastics announced that Jade Carey, who placed ninth in the qualifying round, will participate in her place. Fellow American Sunisa Lee, who secured a spot in the all-around final after posting the third-highest score in qualifying, also will compete.
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around Jade Carey of United States of America during women's qualification for the Artistic Gymnastics final at the Olympics at Ariake Gymnastics Centre, Tokyo, Japan on July 25, 2021. (Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around Jade Carey, of the United States, performs on the balance beam during the women's artistic gymnastic qualifications at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 25, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around Jade Carey of Team United States competes on vault during Women's Qualification on day two of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 25, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around Jade Carey, of the United States, performs on the vault during the women's artistic gymnastic qualifications at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 25, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around USA's Jade Carey competes in the floor event of the artistic gymnastic women's qualification during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 25, 2021. (LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around Jade Carey of Team United States competes in the floor exercise during Women's Qualification on day two of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 25, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around Jade Carey of Team United States competes on uneven bars during Women's Qualification on day two of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 25, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around Simone Biles, Grace McCallum and Jade Carey of Team United States look on during Women's Qualification on day two of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 25, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around Grace McCullum, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Simone Biles, MyKayla Skinner and Jade Carey of Team USA wave as they line up ahead of their floor routines on day two of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 25, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
Photos: Jade Carey to replace Simone Biles in Olympic gymnastics individual all-around US gymnasts (fromL) Mykayla Skinner, Sunisa Lee, Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum and Jade Carey pose with team members after a training session at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, on July 22, 2021, a few days prior to the beginning of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. (LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)
Here are five things you need to know about Carey, 21, of Arizona:
1.She was the first female gymnast to secure an individual spot on Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics.
While U.S. women’s gymnastics team members Biles, Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum, as well as individual competitor MyKayla Skinner, were awarded their spots at last month’s Olympic trials, Carey already knew she was headed to Tokyo. The Phoenix-based gymnast qualified for the Olympics last year via the Individual Apparatus World Cup Series, topping the rankings in vault and floor exercise, USA Today reported.
Although Carey could have attempted to make the four-member women’s team at the trials, she took to Instagram on June 15 to say that she would be sticking with her individual spot.
“I have every intention to accept the individual spot that I worked very hard to earn by competing in the Apparatus World Cup Series spanning from 2018-2020 when officially offered to me,” she wrote at the time. “My focus right now is preparing to compete at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and being able to contribute to Team USA in any way possible. Thank you for your continued support.”
2. While this is Carey’s first Olympics, she is no stranger to international competition.
In addition to the World Cup Series, she has won four medals at the World Championships: team gold and silver on vault in 2019, as well as silver on vault and floor in 2017, according to USA Today.
3. Her coach is her father, Brian Carey.
He and her mother, Danielle Mitchell-Greenberg, got her involved with gymnastics at a young age, according to USA Gymnastics.
“My parents owned a gym when I was born, so I was always in the gym playing!” Carey, who started doing gymnastics when she was just 2 years old, wrote on her profile page.
Carey may debut a laid-out triple-double on floor exercise, according to NBC Sports. If she lands the skill at the Olympics, it will bear her name and have the highest difficulty value of any move in the Gymnastics Code of Points, Inside Gymnastics reported.
Watch Carey practice the skill below:
5. In addition to the all-around, Carey is slated to compete in the individual vault and floor finals.
In the qualifying round Sunday, Carey posted the second-highest score on vault (15.166) and the third-highest score on floor exercise (14.1), according toNBC Sports.