Interview: Paul Juda talks Olympics tour, entrepreneurial future
Paul Juda, Olympics medalist for Team USA gymnastics, discusses touring with Simone Biles, gym routines, the VelociCoaster, and more in this exclusive interview with Attractions Magazine.
Paul Juda was part of one of the most jubilant moments of the summer 2024 Olympics. Who could forget the image of Juda — along with his fellow Team USA gymnasts Asher Hong, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, and Fred Richards — embracing one another, jumping up and down, shouting at the top of their lungs, and altogether celebrating their historic achievement? Winning bronze at the men’s artistic team all-around, the quintet earned the USA its first Olympics medal in men’s gymnastics in 16 years.
“Olympic medalist” is the latest title on the résumé of Chicago native Juda, following his win as floor exercise champion at the 2024 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship and his collective win with Team USA for bronze at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championship.
Next, he’ll join many other Olympian gymnasts — including Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles of the women’s team — for the Gold Over America Tour (or GOAT, naturally), a 30-city whirlwind bringing the unity and spectacle of the Olympic Games to arenas all over the country.
Ahead of the tour’s Sept. 16 launch in Oceanside, Calif., Paul Juda sat down with Attractions Magazine to talk about the Paris Olympics, his excitement for the tour, his future prospects as an entrepreneur, and everything in between.
Olympics gymnastics and chill with Paul Juda
Paul Juda isn’t one to follow expectations. For starters, during our conversation in the middle of August, he sips from a mug emblazoned with the words “hot cocoa and chill.” Whether intentional or not, this is indicative of Juda’s wider goals for his career to not fit into one specific box or follow the traditional trajectory perhaps expected of him as an Olympics gymnastics medalist.
It’s a mindset that will be on full display during the Gold Over America Tour this fall. The show, presented by Athleta, has toured before, but this will be the first time the men’s gymnastics team will be part of it.
“I’m already really excited to be with my former Olympic teammates,” Juda tells us. Hong, Malone, and Richards — plus USA alternates Yul Moldauer and Shane Wiskus — will all join Juda on the road, as will Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Hezly Rivera from the women’s team and alternate Joscelyn Roberson (no Nedoroscik or Suni Lee this time).
In addition to fellow members of Team USA, Juda says, “I’m also gonna be there with so many different accomplished gymnasts as well: people who have been part of world championship medalist teams and others who have been on the senior national team for so many different years.”
A handful of international athletes will be part of the Gold Over America Tour as well, such as gold medalist Mélanie Johanna de Jesus dos Santos from France.
“You can’t win a team medal without all 18 routines, which ultimately leads to the conclusion that every routine matters just as much as the next one,” Juda says. Translating that to the Gold Over America Tour, “You can’t have this whole performance without every single piece working at the same time. So every single piece is just as important as the next. I’m gonna be really interested to lean in together.”
Olympics vibes vs. tour vibes
Though the Gold Over America Tour will spotlight familiar faces, much of the production will be new territory for both the athletes and the audience. The show will integrate gymnastic skills that were on display in Paris plus new dance routines and choreography. Also different: the atmosphere in the room as compared to the high-pressure, concentrated environment of the Olympic Games.
At the Olympics gymnastics events, Juda says, “It’s about winning. It’s about getting first. It’s about hitting routines.” In contrast, he says of the tour, “I think this is gonna be a great opportunity for us all to be in a relaxed environment, focus on our fitness, get in really good shape, let our bodies recover from the last quad [the time period of four years between each Olympics], have fun touring, have fun meeting people, and also just become friends.”
That last bit comes with a particularly new caveat. On tour all the athletes will be castmates, not competitors, a different vibe that Juda looks forward to stepping into — and one that he’s still getting the hang of.
“I think this one’s gonna be all about rest and recovery. I know I’ve already said that to myself and to my teammate Fred, who’s gonna be competing — or, see when I said ‘competing with me’ — performing with me!”
Paul Juda’s ethic in the gym, in the classroom, and at the Olympics gymnastics events
While much of Juda’s approach to the sport of gymnastics and competing in the Olympics swerves from the expected, there’s one place where the regimented is rewarded: the gym.
When training, Juda says, “It’s all about focus inside of the gym. I leave all my baggage at the door, and I really just try to become the elite-level gymnast that I’m aspiring to be. I don’t worry about my relationships. I don’t worry about school when I’m in the gym. It is 100% focused when I’m in the gym. 100%.” And what happens when he walks out of the gym? “I leave the gym in the gym and I go on to do my next thing.”
That “next thing” may be any number of pursuits, depending on the day. Juda says that last thing he wants his legacy to be is one-dimensional. “I want to be known as the guy that was able to do a lot and be a lot at the same time.”
Juda attends the University of Michigan (which he proudly supports with his shirt choice on the day of our interview), where he’s the captain of the men’s gymnastics team — but he’s not just there for athletics.
“I care a lot about my academics,” he says. Additionally, Juda has entrepreneurial aspirations, something for which he believes gymnastics prepares him well. “A lot of lessons that I’ve learned in gymnastics are 100% transferrable to the future world. I think of hard work. I think of grit. I think of resilience. I think of love for a team. I think of leadership. I think of time management. All of these things. But if you don’t know how to communicate it, they’re worthless.”
Now in his sixth year, Juda is intentional about imparting some of the wisdom he’s gleaned to younger student athletes.
“I’ve found that the best leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. When I look back at my legacy at Michigan, it started to be, ‘What was I able to give most of my Michigan teammates that is gonna stick with them forever?’ The accolades are great; don’t get me wrong. But the accolades just get you in the door. You have to really be able to push it all the way through.”
Judassic World
One of the tour’s stops will be in Orlando, Fla., a city near and dear to us at Attractions Magazine. With one of Juda’s favorite movies being “Jurassic World,” we had to ask: Any plans to ride the VelociCoaster at Universal Islands of Adventure while he’s in town?
“I’ve never been in Orlando, so that’ll be my first time,” Juda concedes. “I’m from the Chicago suburbs area … I think I’ve been [to Six Flags Great America] probably at least 20 times. I’ve spent a couple birthdays there. I’ve gotten the FastPass on my birthday before. There’s no other way to go to a theme park unless you can get the FastPass. I love Six Flags over there. I think slowly but surely, I’m starting to turn into somebody who really looks at vacation spots based on the golf amenities and everything that goes into there.”
Photo courtesy of Six Flags
Juda’s ‘ultimate dream’ for gymnastics
Paul Juda hopes the Olympics tour will move the needle for the sport of gymnastics at large, in more ways than one.
“I’m looking at every show as an opportunity to make a new fan fall in love with this sport.” At the same time, though … “My goals for the tour, especially with viewership and exposure, is not to turn people into gymnastics megafans,” he says. Instead, he’d love for the average viewer of Sunday Night Football to also consider watching gymnastics as part of their sports viewing. “That’s the ultimate dream. You just want to be in the conversation. Every sport’s vying for eyes. Everybody’s looking at the same market share. How do you carve out a little piece for yourself and what do you bring to the table that’s unique? As we know, gymnastics has so much that’s unique.”
Looking ahead to the launch of the tour, Juda says, “I’m just really looking forward to seeing all the pieces mesh together and for the show to actually come to fruition. Just like the team camaraderie at the Olympic Games, we’re going to have a cast camaraderie. It’s gonna be a full cast production. Everybody’s role is just as important as the next, and that’s how you build team camaraderie.”
Tickets for the Gold Over America Tour 2024
Fans and newcomers alike can see Paul Juda, his Olympics gymnastics teammates, and more athletes perform in the Gold Over America Tour this fall. Tickets are now available.
Different tiers of VIP ticket packages for the Olympics tour include merchandise, access to an athletes’ panel, and participation in the finale of the show.
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