Simone Biles is bringing back her Gold Over America Tour this fall, with a twist.
This time, the guys are invited too.
The decision to include the men on the 30-city tour that starts in Southern California on Sept. 17 and ends in Detroit on Nov. 3 was intentional. Biles, who will try to build on her haul of seven Olympic medals this summer in Paris, wanted to broaden the show.
“I think the first time we were very driven on female-forward cast and having the beauty in that and knowing that we can put on a show without the guys and just having the girls being in their feminine power and being beautiful and being the stars,” Biles said ahead of the tour's announcement on Thursday. “But this time around we’re like ‘OK, that worked but let’s do it a little bit differently, let’s invite the men.’”
That includes Fred Richard, 20, who became the first American man to medal in the all-around at the world championships since 2010 when he earned bronze in Belgium last fall.
Richard, who is eyeing making his first Olympic team, has made it his mission to help make men's gymnastics relevant in a country where the women have commanded much of the attention — and much of the international success — for decades.
The sophomore at Michigan has cultivated an avid following on social media thanks to an ability to make men's gymnastics look both fun and relatable, a somewhat difficult needle to thread.
“The goal is to get as many eyes on men’s gymnastics side as possible and have more people understand who we are and what we do," Richard said. “The dream is that someone walks down the street one day and someone says ‘Name a male gymnast’ and they actually name a male gymnast.”
Working with the most decorated gymnast in the history of the sport for a couple of months might help. Richard called Biles a “role model." She sees in Richard someone who has a unique ability to connect with an audience.
“I think it gets really intimate when you get on Fred’s platform, just because how he talks to you, the kind of stuff that he puts out is really interesting," Biles said. “I think it’ll bring a whole different take.”
The rest of the men's group won't be determined until after the run-up to the Paris Olympics.
“(The men) also bring a little bit, in the best way, sex appeal,” Biles said. “I think that’s very interesting and it brings a different type of crowd too. It’s like they can do really cool tricks with little to no effort without training and so I think it’ll be a beautiful show.”
The women joining Biles include 2020 Tokyo Olympic teammate Jordan Chiles and 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey, with the rest of the roster to be revealed in the coming weeks.
Biles described the show as a “celebration" of gymnastics, though a celebration with decidedly personal elements.
She used the 2021 tour to help promote the importance of prioritizing mental health, a sometimes taboo subject Biles brought out into the open when she removed herself from multiple competitions at the Tokyo Games while battling “ the twisties.”
“Obviously we want to bring the fun, we want to bring like the exhilarating feeling, we want to bring the golden side out of everybody but those touchy subjects or whatever we want to touch on, those will come whenever people get a chance to tell their stories at the Olympics,” she said.
The show will also incorporate rhythmic gymnastics and Biles said there was even talk about having “SlamBall” players — think basketball on trampolines — be part of the show. All with the idea of bringing as many people into the tent as possible.
The 27-year-old laughed when asked if this would be her last time as an active participant in the tour. She just celebrated her first anniversary with Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens and said she’s not thinking much long-term beyond 2024.
“I would never say never and I think that would be amazing to (do this) after every Olympic cycle,” she said. “I think that would be a beautiful thing. But right now I can’t tell you yes or no. Like no definitive answers because I don’t know what life will look like in the next few years to come.”
AP Olympics https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE - Fred Richard performs on the rings during the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. Simone Biles is bringing back her Gold Over America Tour this fall, with a twist. This time, the guys are invited too. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson, File)
FILE - Michigan gymnast Fred Richard during an NCAA gymnastics meet on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, in Air Force Academy, Colo. Simone Biles is bringing back her Gold Over America Tour this fall. The decision to include the men on the 30-city tour that starts in Southern California on Sept. 17 and ends in Detroit on Nov. 3 was intentional. That includes Fred Richard.(AP Photo/Bart Young)
FILE - Simone Biles warms up during a practice session at the U.S. Classic gymnastics competition Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in Hoffman Estates, Ill. Simone Biles is bringing back her Gold Over America Tour this fall, with a twist. This time, the guys are invited too. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, File)
FILE - United States' Simone Biles competes on the uneven bars during the women's all-round final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. Biles is bringing back her Gold Over America Tour this fall, with a twist. This time, the guys are invited too.(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and several other officials were found dead on Monday, hours after their helicopter crashed in a foggy, mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported.
The crash comes as the Middle East remains unsettled by the Israel-Hamas war, during which Raisi, who was 63, under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel just last month.
During Raisi's term in office, Iran enriched uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels, further escalating tensions with the West as Tehran also supplied bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and armed militia groups across the region.
Meanwhile, Iran has faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over its ailing economy and women’s rights — making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the country.
State TV gave no immediate cause for the crash that occurred in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
Among the dead was Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, 60. The helicopter also carried the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, other officials and bodyguards, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Early Monday morning, Turkish authorities released what they described as drone footage showing what appeared to be a fire in the wilderness that they “suspected to be wreckage of helicopter.” The coordinates listed in the footage put the fire some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Azerbaijan-Iranian border on the side of a steep mountain.
Footage released by the IRNA early Monday showed what the agency described as the crash site, across a steep valley in a green mountain range. Soldiers speaking in the local Azeri language said: “There it is, we found it.”
Condolences started pouring in from neighbors and allies after Iran confirmed there were no survivors from the crash. Pakistan announced a day of mourning and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X that his country "stands with Iran in this time of sorrow.” Leaders of Egypt and Jordan also offered condolences, as did Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said he and his government were “deeply shocked" — Raisi was returning on Sunday after traveling to Iran’s border with Azerbaijan to inaugurate a dam with Aliyev when the crash happened.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conveyed his condolences. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a statement released by the Kremlin, described Raisi “as a true friend of Russia.”
Khamenei, who had himself urged the public to pray Sunday night, stressed the business of Iran’s government would continue no matter what.
Under the Iranian constitution, Iran’s vice first president takes over if the president dies, with Khamenei’s assent, and a new presidential election would be called within 50 days.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber already had begun receiving calls from officials and foreign governments in Raisi’s absence, state media reported. An emergency meeting of Iran's Cabinet was held as state media made the announcement Monday morning. The Cabinet issued a statement afterward pledging it would follow Raisi's path and that “with the help of God and the people, there will be no problem with management of the country.”
A hard-liner who formerly led the country’s judiciary, Raisi was viewed as a protégé of Khamenei and some analysts had suggested he could replace the 85-year-old leader after Khamenei’s death or resignation.
With Raisi's death, the only other person so far suggested has been Mojtaba Khameini, the 55-year-old son to the supreme leader. However, some have raised concerns over the position being taken only for the third time since 1979 to a family member, particularly after the Islamic Revolution overthrew the hereditary Pahlavi monarchy of the shah.
Raisi won Iran’s 2021 presidential election, a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Raisi is sanctioned by the U.S. in part over his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 at the end of the bloody Iran-Iraq war.
Under Raisi, Iran now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and hampers international inspections. Iran has armed Russia in its war on Ukraine, as well as launched a massive drone-and-missile attack on Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It also has continued arming proxy groups in the Mideast, like Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, mass protests in the country have raged for years. The most recent involved the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who had been earlier detained over allegedly not wearing a hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities. The monthslong security crackdown that followed the demonstrations killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.
In March, a United Nations investigative panel found that Iran was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death.
Raisi is the second Iranian president to die in office. In 1981, a bomb blast killed President Mohammad Ali Rajai in the chaotic days after the country's Islamic Revolution.
Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue teams' vehicles are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (Azin Haghighi, Moj News Agency via AP)
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi attends a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev during the inauguration ceremony of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Raisi, a hard-line protégé of the country's supreme leader who helped oversee the mass executions of thousands in 1988 and later led the country as it enriched uranium near weapons-grade levels and launched a major drone-and-missile attack on Israel, has died in a helicopter crash, according to state media on Monday, May 20. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, left, shakes hands with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev during a meeting to inaugurate the dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Rescuers on Monday found a helicopter that was carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials that had apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran the day before, though "no sign of life" was detected, state media reported. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in meeting a group of families of the Revolutionary Guard members in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation. "We hope that God the Almighty returns the dear president and his colleagues in full health to the arms of the nation," Khamenei said, drawing an "amen" from the audience he was addressing. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
People pray for President Ebrahim Raisi in a ceremony at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue teams' vehicles are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (Azin Haghighi/Moj News Agency via AP)
In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue teams and people are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (Azin Haghighi/Moj News Agency via AP)
In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue teams are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (Azin Haghighi, Moj News Agency via AP)
In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue teams' vehicles are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (Azin Haghighi/Moj News Agency via AP)
In this photo provided by the Azerbaijan's Presidential Press Office, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, left, shakes hands with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev during their meeting in the inauguration ceremony of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating. (Azerbaijani Presidential Press Office via AP)
An Iranian state-TV news reader reads news on incident of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in northwestern Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi, left, speaks with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev on the inauguration of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, Sunday May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi attends a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev during the inauguration ceremony of dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
Pilgrims pray for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without elaborating. (Mohammad Hasan Salavati/Shahraranews via AP)
Iranian pilgrims pray for President Ebrahim Raisi at Imam Reza Shrine in the city of Mashhad, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without elaborating. (Mohammad Hasan Salavati/Shahraranews via AP)
In this photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes off at the Iranian border with Azerbaijan after President Raisi and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without elaborating. (Ali Hamed Haghdoust/IRNA via AP)
In this photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi takes off at the Iranian border with Azerbaijan after President Raisi and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev inaugurated dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi suffered a "hard landing" on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without elaborating. (Ali Hamed Haghdoust/IRNA via AP)
FILE- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi places his hands on his heart as a gesture of respect to the crowd during the funeral ceremony of the victims of Wednesday's bomb explosion in the city of Kerman about 510 miles (820 kms) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Jan. 5, 2024. A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, May 19, 2024, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
People pray for President Ebrahim Raisi in a ceremony at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
