Carly began gymnastics in 1994. "I went to a birthday party at the gym and the head coach asked my mom if I had ever taken. He said I should," remembers Carly. Carly enrolled at Elite Gymnastics in Baton Rouge where she spent the first five years of her gymnastics career, earning the title of 1999 Louisiana Level 10 State Champion before moving to Houston, Texas later that year.

Carly spent her first year as an elite gymnast at Brown's Gymnastics in Houston, earning the silver medal on beam and 4th all-around in her first US National Championships. Her father was soon transferred to the Dallas/Fort Worth area, which gave Carly the oppurtunity to train at one of the greatest gyms in the country: World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano. Carly began training with Evgeny Marchenko and his team of elites.

Barely two months after arriving at WOGA, Carly competed in her first international meet, the 2000 Top Gym Tournament in Belgium. She finished second all-around to Russia's Anna Pavlova and won the bronze medal on beam. A few months later, Carly helped the US defeat strong Romanian and Chinese teams and captured the all-around gold at the 2001 American Team Cup. She also debuted her signature beam dismount, an Arabian double front, which was named the Patterson after last year's World Championships.

Carly continued her success in the junior ranks throughout 2001 and 2002. She won countless national and international medals, competing all across the US and Canada, South America, and even as far as Australia and China. In her third US Nationals, Carly easily won the title of 2002 US Junior National Champion! Following in the footsteps of her favorite gymnast, Mary Lou Retton, Carly won her first senior international title at the 2003 American Cup. She seemed unbeatable until a stress fracture in her elbow kept her out of US Classic and Nationals. However, after a training camp in July, the US coaches and training staff had enough confidence in Carly to put her on the 2003 World Championship team.

Carly and the US team made history at Worlds, becoming the 2003 World Team Champions! Carly, Terin Humphrey, Courtney Kupets, Chellsie Memmel, Tasha Schwikert, and Hollie Vise are the first US women to ever earn this title. Carly also qualified for all-around finals where she finished second to Russia's Svetlana Khorkina. She is the first American woman to medal in the all-around of a world championships since Shannon Miller back in 1994.

Carly spent the end of 2003 in recovery, after having surgery on her elbow. She came back strong for 2004 though, defending her American Cup title in February then going on to tie Courtney Kupets for the title of US National Champion! Less than a month later she was on her way to Athens, having achieved her ultimate goal in gymnastics to earn a spot on the US Olympic Team!

Carly came home from Athens with three Olympic medals. The US women won silver in the team competition - the first medal for the US women in eight years, as well as the second highest finish for the Americans in a fully attended Olympic Games. Carly also earned a silver medal on her specialty, the beam. However, it was on August 19th that all of Carly's hard work, dedication, and love for gymnastics paid off. She won the most prestigious title in gymnastics, the title of 2004 Olympic All-Around Champion. Carly is the USA's first Olympic all-around champion in twenty years, as well as the first American woman to win an Olympic all-around title in a fully attended Olympic Games!