Education
University of Texas at Austin.
University of Texas at Austin.
Carey specialized in the backstroke. He was named as the Swimmer of the Year in 1983 by Swimming World magazine. Carey was selected to make his international debut at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but had to withdraw when the American team boycotted the Olympics due to the Soviet Union"s invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1982 he collected gold in the 200-meter backstroke and 4×100-meter medley relay, and silver in the 100-meter backstroke at the World Championships in Guayaguil, Ecuador.
In 1983, Carey set world records of 55.38 seconds in the 100-meter and 1:58.93 in the 200-meter backstroke, breaking marks set in 1976 by John Naber. He also broke the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay, along with Steve Lundquist, Matt Gribble and Rowdy Gaines, all of whom were world record-holders in their respective strokes.
This earned him the Swimmer of the Year award. Carey created a minor controversy after his victory in the 200-meter backstroke, when despite winning Olympic gold, he appeared noticeably unhappy about having failed to break his own world record time.
According to his Linked-In profile, Carey now works for JPMorgan Chase in New York City.
He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1993.