(Kia Center, Orlando FL) 11-time Olympic medalist, Simone Biles, led a team full of fellow gymnasts onto the floor of the Kia Center as part of the Gold Over America Tour (GOAT).
The 2024 GOAT tour will find its way to 32 cities across the United States. In addition to being led by THE 'GOAT' (Simone Biles), this touring team has been awarded more gold and silver than can be found in the largest of jewelry stores. Alongside 17 other world-class US gymnasts, this show was part pop concert and part best-in-class gymnastics exhibition. For 2 hours, these Olympic gymnasts showcased extreme talent as they each demonstrated the skills that earned them their career medals. There was a constant rotation of athletes tumbling on the floor, immediately followed by one of the female athletes navigating the uneven bars, whilst another male team member would be performing aerial stunts on the high bar. Seeing Simone Biles on the balance beam was like seeing a piece of history replaying itself before our very eyes, and watching Yul Moldauer effortlessly swinging about on the pommel horse as a 2024 Olympic Team alternate had you realizing just how many years of dedicated commitment each of these individuals sacrificed to attain this level of greatness. After each individual display, all of the competitors would come together toward one side of the Kia Center floor and a synchronized dance would take place, or a competitive circle would be created in the middle of which multiple athletes would be sharing a sample of a floor routine that earned them an Olympic medal.
The 2 'hosts' of the show were 2012 Summer Olympics qualifier Peng-Peng Lee and viral floor routine gymnast Katelyn Ohashi. They did a fair job of amping up the crowd a few minutes prior to the show start, by launching t-shirts into the mostly-filled Kia Center. Occasionally throughout the evening, they would interject some narratives into their live microphones to try and draw the audience in closer to the athletes. Athletes performed choreographed routines set against the audio background of pop music artists such as Taylor Swift. Additionally, there were a few moments of the show themed after 'Barbie', during which time the female athletes sported bright pink outfits.
A slight bit of humor was interjected during the show when during a 'men's huddle', a playful moment occurred when the male athletes light-heartedly compared their bronze medal to the females having won gold. They continued the fun and competitiveness calling out that they (the guys) 'jumped higher' overall, but that Simone could jump higher than any one of them. But, as these were ultra-competitors before us, the guys gravitated to what they did best, which self-admittedly was 'to jump around', which triggered a fun and frenzied array of acrobatic delight with background songs 'Jump Around', 'The Humpty Dance', and Kriss Kross' 'Jump' which delighted some of the folks in the audience from my generation (40-50 year olds).
Personally, my favorite part of the event actually took place after the 20-minute intermission which separated the show into 2. I was actually a fan of the personal Q&A portion of the event, when the athletes were interviewed and asked one question each. For example, when 2021 Olympic floor champion Jade Carey was asked about the topic of 'self-doubt', she provided the encouragement that 'it's all about finding what's golden inside you and letting it shine out... don't let someone tell you that you can't do something, and have fun along the journey.' A large demographic of Kia's audience this night was that of 'young female', most of whom I would speculate were gymnasts themselves. Seeing this level of athlete up close like this would certainly inspire and motivate everyone, and probably the best takeaway from this event was how the encouragement that this type of show, particularly being able to hear these resounding words direct from the athletes themselves, would leave a permanent and lasting impression on these young athletes in attendance. Perhaps the next Olympic gold medalist was in the Kia Center on this particular night.
If you have a young one who is into any level of competition at all, this show would be beneficial for them to witness because how many opportunities will one have in one's lifetime to actually witness a GOAT do what they do best?
Bailey Guinigundo
The 2024 GOAT tour will find its way to 32 cities across the United States. In addition to being led by THE 'GOAT' (Simone Biles), this touring team has been awarded more gold and silver than can be found in the largest of jewelry stores. Alongside 17 other world-class US gymnasts, this show was part pop concert and part best-in-class gymnastics exhibition. For 2 hours, these Olympic gymnasts showcased extreme talent as they each demonstrated the skills that earned them their career medals. There was a constant rotation of athletes tumbling on the floor, immediately followed by one of the female athletes navigating the uneven bars, whilst another male team member would be performing aerial stunts on the high bar. Seeing Simone Biles on the balance beam was like seeing a piece of history replaying itself before our very eyes, and watching Yul Moldauer effortlessly swinging about on the pommel horse as a 2024 Olympic Team alternate had you realizing just how many years of dedicated commitment each of these individuals sacrificed to attain this level of greatness. After each individual display, all of the competitors would come together toward one side of the Kia Center floor and a synchronized dance would take place, or a competitive circle would be created in the middle of which multiple athletes would be sharing a sample of a floor routine that earned them an Olympic medal.
The 2 'hosts' of the show were 2012 Summer Olympics qualifier Peng-Peng Lee and viral floor routine gymnast Katelyn Ohashi. They did a fair job of amping up the crowd a few minutes prior to the show start, by launching t-shirts into the mostly-filled Kia Center. Occasionally throughout the evening, they would interject some narratives into their live microphones to try and draw the audience in closer to the athletes. Athletes performed choreographed routines set against the audio background of pop music artists such as Taylor Swift. Additionally, there were a few moments of the show themed after 'Barbie', during which time the female athletes sported bright pink outfits.
A slight bit of humor was interjected during the show when during a 'men's huddle', a playful moment occurred when the male athletes light-heartedly compared their bronze medal to the females having won gold. They continued the fun and competitiveness calling out that they (the guys) 'jumped higher' overall, but that Simone could jump higher than any one of them. But, as these were ultra-competitors before us, the guys gravitated to what they did best, which self-admittedly was 'to jump around', which triggered a fun and frenzied array of acrobatic delight with background songs 'Jump Around', 'The Humpty Dance', and Kriss Kross' 'Jump' which delighted some of the folks in the audience from my generation (40-50 year olds).
Personally, my favorite part of the event actually took place after the 20-minute intermission which separated the show into 2. I was actually a fan of the personal Q&A portion of the event, when the athletes were interviewed and asked one question each. For example, when 2021 Olympic floor champion Jade Carey was asked about the topic of 'self-doubt', she provided the encouragement that 'it's all about finding what's golden inside you and letting it shine out... don't let someone tell you that you can't do something, and have fun along the journey.' A large demographic of Kia's audience this night was that of 'young female', most of whom I would speculate were gymnasts themselves. Seeing this level of athlete up close like this would certainly inspire and motivate everyone, and probably the best takeaway from this event was how the encouragement that this type of show, particularly being able to hear these resounding words direct from the athletes themselves, would leave a permanent and lasting impression on these young athletes in attendance. Perhaps the next Olympic gold medalist was in the Kia Center on this particular night.
If you have a young one who is into any level of competition at all, this show would be beneficial for them to witness because how many opportunities will one have in one's lifetime to actually witness a GOAT do what they do best?
Bailey Guinigundo