Simone Biles takes a victory lap in high-flying Gold Over America Tour
When Simone Biles won her first world championship in 2013, her agent at the time asked her a seminal question: What did she hope to accomplish in the sport of gymnastics?
Olympic gold medals may have come up, but one of the wish list items Biles remembers most fondly was a long-held desire to have her own tour across the U.S.Like many of her goals, it has come to fruition in spectacular fashion.In the decade since she first pondered her aspirations in the sport, Biles has won 11 Olympic medals and 30 world championship medals, making her the most decorated gymnast in history. After her tour de force showing at the Paris Olympics this summer, she is making the rounds to 30 American cities to connect and celebrate with the fans who cheered her to greatness from home.It’s called the Gold Over America Tour, which can be abbreviated, appropriately, as “GOAT.”“It’s really about sharing that love and passion for the sport with the audience,”
Biles said backstage before Friday’s Los Angeles show. “As well as doing a celebration tour after the Olympics, because we put so much into what we do and we’ve trained for so many years, it’s time for us to have a little bit of fun.”Typically home to the NBA’s Lakers, the hallways of Crypto.com Arena were teeming with bouncy young gymnasts doing handstands and cartwheels in the aisles before the show.Biles twisted and flipped with her usual finesse and was accompanied by an entourage of Olympians performing gravity-defying dance breaks that would give the Laker Girls a run for their money. Stars of the Paris Games like Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey tumbled in synchronization, as well as international icons of the sport and members of the history-making U.S. men’s Olympic team.
