Weeks after racking up more medals at the Paris Olympics, the great gymnast of all time, Simone Biles, is spending some time in Southern California.
Biles, along with UCLA’s Jordan Chiles and other members of Team USA, will be performing for the Gold Over America Tour at Crypto.com Arena Friday night.
“We all deserve this. We’ve worked so hard for so many years. It’s time to have some fun and inspire the younger generations,” said Simone Biles as she prepared for the tour, which will travel to 30 different cities over seven weeks. “It’s just so much fun. It’s like a pop-style concert with some of the best gymnasts in the world.”
Training for the Olympics is one thing, but going on a tour is another, said Biles.
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“Obviously for an Olympic games, you’re training those four years. For this, we’ve had about two weeks of rehearsals,” the world’s most decorated gymnast said.
The elite squad, which includes seven Olympians who flipped their way to the podium in Paris for Team USA, will showcase what they do best while revealing a different side of the athletes.
“Having dancers with us, we’re more like, ‘OK! We can dance, too!”
While Chiles and other female gymnasts are used to performing floor routines to music, it's a much more different story for the men, who are joining the tour for the first time.
“This is very different than the normal gymnastics we do,” Broady Malone said while laughing.
The male gymnasts are hoping the momentum from their bronze medal-winning performance in Paris keeps the interest in the men’s gymnastics high.
“We all know where we want the sport to be, where it should be,” Federick Richard, Paris Olympics bronze medalist, said. “I feel like we were at the olympics. I feel like we knew the opportunity we had to grow the sport.”
Paul Juda also echoed the commitment especially as he’s been approached by many parents who want to have their children join gymnastics.
“To hear dads and moms are pushing their young children, especially boys to join the sport – man, that brings the biggest smile to my face,” Juda said.
The chance to impact younger generations is ultimately at the heart of the tour.
“It's not about winning medals. It’s really about each and every one of us having a story to tell, each and every one of us having a piece of gold inside of us,” Biles said. “We just have to figure out what that is and let it shine.”
See here for available tickets to the Gold Over America Tour.
