Meet Jade Carey’s Parents: Brian Carey and Danielle Mitchell-Greenberg

Jade Carey, the 24-year-old gymnast from Phoenix, Arizona, is competing in her second Olympics. At the 2021 Tokyo games, she won the gold medal for her floor exercise.

“I was pretty talented and very fearless as a young kid,” Carey told Elle earlier this month. “I would try anything. As I got older, I started to realize where it could take me if it was something that I was very serious about.”

Her parents, Brian Carey and Danielle Mitchell-Greenberg, have been immensely supportive of their daughter’s gymnastics career. Both former gymnasts, they know what it takes to make it as a professional athlete. Although they divorced when Carey was younger, they still work together to support their daughter. After she qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jade told NBC, “I couldn’t do it without my family.”

Here, get to know Jade Carey’s parents:

Brian Carey isn’t just Jade’s dad—he’s also her coach. “Having my dad here means everything to me; this is all we’ve ever dreamed of,” Jade said after winning gold the Tokyo Olympics. “It’s just really special to be able to get this medal with him out there by my side. He’s supported me 100 percent the whole time.”

On balancing family life and training, Jade told AZcentral that “at home, he’s just my Dad, and at the gym, he’s just my coach.” Their ability to separate the two roles is crucial, yet Brian’s coaching teaching methods are critical for the young athlete. Brian told the Gazette-Times, “I knew when she was young, she had a gift. I didn’t want to push it, definitely didn’t want to push it for me. I wanted her to hopefully fall in love with the sport, which she did. I just thought it would be too much when she was little to be coaching her all the time. So I would just clap and ask her how her day was and if she had fun. That was about it.” Jade responded better with encouragement and tactical advice, he explained. “Breaking her down isn’t going to help build her up,” he added.

When Jade started at Oregon State University in July 2023, Brian got a job at the school. “I’m just excited to be here,” he told The Daily Barometer. “It’s a great program and I’ve had the opportunity to watch from a distance and both be kind of close to it, at the same time working with Jade, but I’m just really excited to be here.”

Brian is in Paris, supporting and coaching his daughter.

Danielle Mitchell-Greenberg, also a former gymnast, runs the USA Youth Fitness Center in Gilbert, Arizona. Danielle shares the same mindset as her ex-husband when it comes to teaching. In an interview with AZ Central, she explained, “for me, I just want her to walk off healthy and happy. If that’s with a medal or not, it doesn’t matter. I’m proud of her either way.”

Reminiscing on Jade as a child, Danielle said, “I believe she was about 4 years old; her dad and I were watching TV, and all of a sudden, oop, there goes a cartwheel. We looked at each other, and I said, ‘Did you teach her that?’ and he said, ‘No, did you?’ and I said, ‘No,’ and so I think we kind of knew at that point.”

Danielle is mom to three other children: Alexis, Taeva, and Xandon, and grandmother to Alexis’s daughter, Olivia, born in August 2020.