TOKYO, Japan — The City of Phoenix once again has some representation on the individual women's gymnastics squad for Team USA!
Phoenix Olympian Jade Carey was already planning on joining the gymnastics team competition, but she will now also compete in the individual competition after Simone Biles dropped out due to mental health issues.
Carey initially did not qualify because she was the third-ranking American behind Biles and Sunisa Lee. International Gymnastics Federation rules limit countries to two athletes per event in the finals.
Five U.S. women finished in the top 24, but three will have to sit out the all-around. Biles and Suni Lee were in. Carey (9th), Gilbert native MyKayla Skinner (11th), and Grace McCallum (13th) were out.
Carey spent two years traveling the globe in an effort to pile up enough points on the World Cup circuit to earn an individual nominative spot, meaning she would be in the Olympics but technically not be part of the four-woman U.S. team.
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She posted the second-best score on vault and the third-best on floor during qualifying, earning trips to the event finals in the process. Now, Carey finds herself competing for an all-around medal while replacing the athlete considered the greatest of all time in the sport.
Team USA and Carey will compete in the Tokyo Olympics all-around final early Thursday morning at 3:50 a.m. MST only on NBC.
Associated Press reporting contributed to this article.
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