Simone Biles leads a group of America’s top gymnasts in an “honor lap” on the Gold Over America Tour.
Some of the world’s best athletes will trade vault, pommel horse and horizontal bar for the stage floor in a stunning blend of sport and entertainment.
Led by 11-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles, the team also includes some of the biggest names in American gymnastics and is touring the U.S. for “high-energy, high-flying concerts that combine gymnastics with pop music.”
The Gold Over America Tour features a host of amazing aerial stunts and athletic feats that have catapulted several band members to stardom on the Olympic stage. Biles said in a press release that she was “very excited” and described the tour as a “victory lap across the United States.”
“It’s more of a holiday tour,” Biles told CNN’s Coy Wire ahead of the tour’s fourth show in San Jose on Saturday. “Not only for us gymnasts, but also for the spectators because we’re all celebrating our big victories in Paris, so to get all of us together in one place and go on tour in America, there’s no better way to do it.”
She added that she’s looking forward to “sharing the love and passion that we have for gymnastics with everyone in the room.”
Biles’ teammate Jordan Chiles is part of the all-star lineup. Biles won three more Olympic gold medals, winning the team all-around, individual all-around and vault, as well as a silver medal in the floor exercise, at the Paris Games earlier this year.
The tour includes 32 arena shows and kicked off Monday in Oceanside, California. He traveled to Phoenix on Wednesday, where the team was welcomed by Phoenix Mercury basketball stars Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Kalia Copper at the city’s Footprint Arena.
Biles and co. He visited Los Angeles on Friday, and the next stop on the tour is scheduled for San Jose on Saturday.
The tour will hit cities including Denver, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta and Orlando before concluding in Detroit on November 3rd. The team included many of Biles’ national teammates, including Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Hesly Rivera and Jocelyn Roberson, who are currently appealing the decision that cost them the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
“I don’t need to be judged event by event! I … “There are no numbers or anything like that, I think we’re all having a lot of fun and bringing out our individual personalities. There are a lot of different personalities on this tour.
Paul Judah, Brodie Malone and Frederick Richard are among those representing the U.S. men’s team.
Peter Chiborra/Reuters
Richard in action on the horizontal bar in Paris. Canadians PengPeng Li and Ellie Brac, Frenchwoman Melanie de Jesus dos Santos and Dutchwoman Casimir Schmidt make up the international cast.
This will be Biles’ second time on the Gold Over America tour. The first iteration of the event took place in 2021 and was an all-female tour designed to inspire the next generation of female athletes. However, this year marks the first time that male athletes have joined the tour. Biles described the camaraderie among the athletes as a “sisterhood,” adding that she was looking forward to working with gymnasts she wouldn’t normally interact with.
The tour was coined the acronym “GOAT,” likely a reference to Biles’ legendary status in professional gymnastics. Part of the warm-up for a recent show was “goat yoga,” in which Biles and Chiles held a live goat on their backs.
