'Proud' Jade Carey triumphs over health issue to win bronze in women's vault final at Paris Olympics

PARIS, FRANCE: Jade Carey overcame sickness to secure a bronze medal in the women's vault final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Despite feeling under the weather earlier this week, Carey pushed through to deliver a strong performance at the Bercy Arena on August 3 in Paris, France.

Jade Carey says she started her week at the Olympics 'throwing up'

The American gymnast revealed that she began the week feeling quite ill.

"I started my week throwing up, so that was kind of hard because, you know, it takes all your energy, you can't eat, you feel like you just want to lay in bed, but I didn't really have time to lay in bed," Carey said.

She scored 14.466 to win the bronze, finishing behind her teammate Simone Biles and Brazil's Rebeca Andrade who secured the silver medal.

After consulting a doctor, Carey was determined to compete, according to People.

"I'm competing still, I'm fine," she insisted and focused on "hydrating and slowly starting to eat more" in the days leading up to the vault final. "I've been feeling a little bit better each day," she followed up.

Jade Carey says she 'learned a lot' about herself at Paris Olympics

Jade Carey attributed her illness to "just bad timing," but expressed pride in her resilience.

"I'm just proud of myself for pushing through and sticking with it," the 24-year-old said.

"I've really been able to learn how strong of a person that I am and I've been able to push through some of my gymnastics in different hard situations," she continued. "So I've really learned a lot about myself." 

Jade Carey recalls being 'stressed out' about her dad's absence at Paris Olympics

Jade Carey shared that she also considered that she felt "stressed out" over her father's absence in Paris as he is also her coach. Her father had been sick just before the Games began.

"I think I probably started to not feel very well before podium training....And I know my dad wasn't there, so I was like, I don't know if I'm just really stressed out that my dad's not here or if something's going on with me," said the bronze medalist.

Carey's illness impacted her performance during the final as she explained, "I was definitely upset because I definitely worked a lot harder than what I showed in qualifications."

However, she remained focused on not letting stress worsen her condition before the vault final on Saturday, August 3.