Jade Carey Wins Gold Medal for Team USA In Floor Exercise at Tokyo Olympics

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Jade-Carey-Wins-Gold-GettyImages-1331953769
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Jade Carey just added another piece of Olympic gold hardware to Team USA's already impressive medal collection.

The 21-year-old gymnast finished first in the women's floor exercise on Monday at the Tokyo Games, defeating Vanessa Ferrari of Italy, who secured a silver medal, and Japan's Mai Murakami and Angelina Melnikova of the Russian Olympic Committee, who tied for bronze in third.

"This is all I have ever dreamed of, all I ever worked for," said Carey to TODAY's Hoda Kotb following her win on Monday. "I'm really glad it paid off tonight."

Carey, who hails from Arizona, and is coached by her father Brian, gave the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team its fifth medal overall with Monday's floor routine win. All of her teammates, including Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum, Sunisa (Suni) Lee, and MyKayla Skinner, will all be leaving Tokyo with medals. Carey had also competed over the weekend in the vault and uneven bars finals, with Skinner and Lee winning the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Carey finished eighth in the vault competition. (Related: How Suni Lee Stepped Into the Spotlight and Stole America's Heart)

Jade-Carey-Gymnastics - Artistic - Olympics: Day 10
Jade-Carey-Gymnastics - Artistic - Olympics: Day 10

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"Last night was definitely hard for me, but I just had to remember that I wasn't done yet and we still had floor, so I needed to put it behind me and give everything I could into floor," said Carey on TODAY. Carey added that she received a flurry of support from her teammates, notably Biles, who had previously skipped Olympic events to focus on her mental health. "That means everything to me to have them here supporting me. They were honestly the best teammates ever — especially last night. So, I was just really lucky to have them up there supporting me," said Carey to People.

On recovering from a rocky vault performance, Carey said Biles told her, "'It happened and [you] can't do anything about it,' and she's just like, 'Let's go out and kill floor.' So that's what I did," she recalled to People. Biles, who will return to the Games on Tuesday in the balance beam final, also congratulated Carey with an Instagram message on Monday. "Go Jade!!!!!" wrote Biles on her Instagram Stories.

Although Biles will have another opportunity to win an Olympic medal on Tuesday, the greatest gymnast of all time has proven during these Games that athletes aren't defined by their victories, but by their strength to overcome physical and emotional hardships.