Simone Biles’ post-Olympic tour is helping give men’s gymnastics a post-Olympic boost
Simone Biles, a gymnastics star, is greatly enhancing the men’s division of the sport.
Pittsboro — Pittsboro (AP) — When the gymnastics sensation Simone Biles invited some of the best American guys to join her on her post-Olympic Tour, she just wanted to shake things up.
“The purpose of enlisting the guys was to showcase the potential of men’s gymnastics,” stated Biles. “And I just feel like we’ve gotten to know the guys over the years, but not really, you know?”
That may be starting to change.
The U.S. men’s bronze-medal breakthrough at the Paris Games — with pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedorscik’s clinching routine serving as the exclamation point — has pushed into the spotlight a side of the sport that typically operates in the shadows.
While Nedoroscik, who went viral in the aftermath, parlayed his newfound fame into a gig on “Dancing With The Stars,” Olympic teammates Frederick Richard, Brody Malone and Paul Juda as well as NCAA champion-turned-influencer Ian Gunther are spending most of the fall traveling across the country with Biles and fellow gold medalists Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera in a show that is part exhibition, part celebration.
The co-ed nature of the second iteration of the Gold Over America Tour — a not-so-subtle nod to Biles’ status as the greatest gymnast of all time — has given the show a different energy than the first, which was entirely female-centric.
Biles praised Richard and company for getting out of their comfort zone and leaning into the performative aspect of the show, which required a lengthy string of 12-hour practice days to prepare.
“We took a risk by bringing the guys on board,” Biles said. “But the outcome has been absolutely amazing. And you have the kids in the crowd chanting ‘Ian! Ian!’ ‘Fredrick! Fredrick!’ and that’s just so cool.”
The 20-year-old Richard’s long-term goal has always been to make men’s gymnastics matter, a daunting proposition in an era when support at the NCAA Division I level — the prime feeder into the U.S. Olympic program — has never been more tenuous.
There is an urgency to turn the splash of notoriety the men earned in Paris into something more sustainable. There have been early signs of progress, most notably an influx of young boys across the country rushing to join their local gym.
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