Olympic Bronze Medalist Paul Juda Readies for Gold Over America Tour

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“You just want to be the future of the sport that people want to watch.” Paul Juda readies for Gold Over America Tour

By Megan Roth and Christy Sandmaier

The road to Paris was nothing but easy for Paul Juda. In 2022, he hyperextended his knee at warm-ups for the U.S. Classic and in 2023, he had a “freak accident” on high bar that injured his ankle and resulted in him missing his senior season at the University of Michigan. After working through his recovery, Juda not only made the 2023 World Championship team, but also helped Team USA win their team bronze medal, ending a 9-year team medal drought for the U.S. men. Individually, he made the vault and high bar finals.

10 months after his first Worlds, Juda walked into the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota looking to make his childhood dream a reality. At Olympic Trials, Juda was one of just a few athletes to go 12 for 12 and his high placements on floor (2nd), pommel horse (3rd), vault (4th), and high bar (5th) solidified his position on the mathematical highest scoring using all four scores and the top three scores from U.S. Championships and Olympic Trials. 

After having the meet of his life, Juda sat in a room alongside the other 19 competitors, hoping to hear his name called. “I wish I could say I was calm, cool, and collected,” Juda said. “I might have been that on the outside, but my heart was just pounding.”

At the selection for 2023 Worlds, Juda’s name was called last, but in Minneapolis, he heard the selection committee read his name first and as soon as he heard the first syllable of his name, the tears started flowing. Those tears kept flowing as Juda was announced as the first member of the 2024 U.S. Men’s Olympic team to over 14,000 people in the Target Center and the millions of people watching the broadcast.

When asked what his initial feelings were about being named to the team, it was hard for Juda to pinpoint one feeling. “I think it’s just joy and gratitude and just a feeling of just love for so many people and for that kid that watched the Olympics long, long, long ago,” Juda said. “You change your mind of what the sport means a lot when you do it for this.”

Throughout the post-meet interviews, Juda kept the bouquet of flowers he was given during the team announcement clutched in his hands, wanting to give it to his mom after the interviews and seeing it as a symbol of his achievement. “Yeah, I’m definitely giving this right to my mom, straight up,” Juda said. “This is not going anywhere … It feels like catching the bar on a release, you don’t want to let go. It’s just been super awesome. This is just a huge symbol.”

Like many athletes who make it to an Olympic Games, Juda has been dreaming of the Olympics since he was a little kid. But during struggles in his NCAA season earlier in the year, he considered erasing “Olympian” from the whiteboard of goals he set on January 1st, 2024.

“I had fallen short on a couple of other goals that I wrote on that whiteboard and I was starting to think if I should erase the one that said Olympian because maybe it won’t come true. But I’m going home and I’m gonna put a massive check on there. I’m glad that it went there, that I kept it there.”

Along with the motivation of becoming an Olympian, Juda told the media that the crowd at huge meets like Olympic Trials keeps him going, even through tough moments in his career. 

“I just think about every tough training, every time you go to the gym and you feel great, and then you have a terrible day, and then you’re like, ‘why am I even here?’ I feel like being in college for so long, it’s going be my sixth year and now I’m thinking like, wow, should I have just been done after four years and just been done and whatnot? So I think it’s just the pull that keeps bringing you back, though, because then you slam a pommel set in front of this crowd and you’re like, no, I like this. It’s the best thing in the world and there’s nothing that comes close.”

In 2021, Juda competed at the Olympic Trials and placed 8th in the All-Around, but he feels like he didn’t really take in the experience of Olympic Trials.

“I remember what I did in ’21, and it was the wrong approach. I was more focused on just making the team or not making the team. I didn’t get to take in the crowd. I didn’t have any involvement with them. I didn’t enjoy the moment. Everything felt rushed. I never got a chance to enjoy it.” 

Looking back at 2021, Juda didn’t feel like he had earned the crowd’s attention yet, but suddenly as a World Medalist, fans knew his name. 

“I think in ’21, it’s the truth and it’s tough to say, but in ’21, I don’t think I had earned the crowd’s involvement yet. I think maybe it takes accolades and luckily, I’m part of so many people that have had those. Now when I walk out, my name is recognizable, which is a huge, awesome feeling and I’m super grateful for it. I think just knowing that you got people’s support, you’ve got young children who are up to your kneecaps asking for pictures, and you’re like, I can’t say no. It’s my 50th photo, but I was you one day.”

While his achievements at 2023 Worlds were huge, knowing he’s now an Olympian, they’ve taken on a whole new meaning.

“I think the World Team was just the first step that I ever had that was just confirmation that I am who I am inside of the gym and that I finally got to say, okay, I’ve done something bigger than just National Team. And then I think, of course, making the medal is another feeling, right? You come home and you’ve got a medal. But this one, you get to say for the rest of your life [that you’re an Olympian.]”

Now, he can also say he’s not only an Olympian, but an Olympic bronze medalist. Juda, who emerged in Paris as a new leader for Team USA – performing the best gymnastics of his life with heart and soul that resonated across the World – stood alongside his teammates Brody Malone, Asher Hong, Stephen Nedoroscik, and his Michigan teammate Frederick Richard breaking a 16-year team medal drought for the men. It was a moment he already cherishes and knows can be fleeting as the Olympic hype shifts to LA 2028. But what Juda and his teammates accomplished is forever etched in the history books and in so many ways, will inspire the kids just like he was – looking up to his heroes – dreaming what often seemed impossible, to the greatest moment of his career so far.

Next month, he joins up with the Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour, where he says he’s “ready for anything” and so excited to continue to share his love of gymnastics and the team’s incredible moments with everyone around the country. 

We spoke with Juda last week about Paris, hitting the road with the GOAT, and being that little kid with a dream. As always, his genuine gratitude continues to stand out and inspire us.

I remember asking you the day after Olympic Trials if you had allowed yourself to think about being on the podium, and you said, ‘No, not yet. I’m taking this moment [of making the team] in.” Now you’ve been on an Olympic podium. What does it feel like? Two, three weeks later?

I feel like it feels like a year ago already! So when I think that I was just there, it goes by really fast. But yeah, I like to credit Sam Mikulak for giving us some really good advice beforehand. He said, ‘make sure that before you make the Olympic team’ – and this was back in May — ‘make sure when you make the Olympic team, all of your baggage in your life is all settled before you go. Because just because you become an Olympian or an Olympic medalist, doesn’t solve anything in your life.’ And so people have been asking, ‘how’s life?’ And I’m like, ‘well, life was awesome before the Olympics, and it sure is awesome now. But it’s just able to be a little bit more awesome.’ So, yeah, life’s good!

What have the homecoming celebrations and experiences been like for you?

It’s a lot of my teammates. Those guys who have been there for me from day one, and they’ve seen the grind. They know how hard I battled with injuries, and being with them, seeing them and hanging out with them has been fantastic. It’s been just next level because they all watched it on TV and they’ve got so many questions and I love answering them. Then I just went to DC for an orientation for my Master’s of Accounting program. That was really fun. I never really had the chance to have too many friends in high school just because of the nature of Elite training. But I left that program knowing I just made like 80 new friends. None of them are gymnasts, obviously. That was a really, really awesome moment. They loved the medal. I brought the medal for them. They all took pictures. It’s been really fun. 

Okay, so I’ve been dying to ask you this since Paris, but it looked to me like you were almost celebrating during your pommel horse dismount…

I did! Well, you’re the first person that’s caught it. So during the last two… Okay, so I was already thinking about what I wanted to celebrate with, and I thought, ‘Okay, dude, you’ve got to focus on hitting the routine before you go to pommel horse. You can’t just start thinking about the celebration!’ But I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to kiss the pommel horse. That’s a non-negotiable. I’m going to kiss the pommel horse.’ I get up there, and it’s so awesome because I had a moment of resting heart rate. I was able, maybe you saw, maybe not, but I was able to just look around and take it in. It was a complete juxtaposition of Team Finals where I was freaking out because it’s Team Finals. It’s pommel horse, it’s the last event. I get up there and my heart’s… I’m just like, ‘Man, this is pretty sweet.’ I was able to just autopilot the routine, my brain shut off and whatnot. And during my last couple of flares before my dismount, I was going, ‘Oh, my God, I did it. Oh, my God, I did it. Oh, my God, I did it!’ And then I did my dismount. So it was really sweet.

So now you’re going on tour. It’s going to be an amazing experience. Talk about what you’re hoping to get out of the experience and how much you think this is going to continue to inspire the young guys, men’s gymnastics in the States…

I got the invitation to tour right after the Olympic Trials, and I thought immediately, ‘yes, I’m in. I’ll worry about the logistics later. I’m in.’ Luckily, I went about it really the right way, and I was able to work with the Ross School of Business and get my classes to be virtually offered. They all said, ‘Hey, this is an awesome opportunity for you. We gotta capitalize on it.’ I know that it’s an awesome opportunity, but I don’t think I understood the scope until really my entire Master’s of Accounting program, which is about 90 people, including some faculty, are now all coming to the last show in Detroit. They were like, ‘We want to come. This is going to be sweet.’ So if these kinds of people want to come to this show and meet me, what about the general population that is just looking at us on social media and only sees us what we post online? I know that they’re going to want to be there, and they’re going to want a taste of the action.

I think it’s going to continue to promote gymnastics. I think it’s a really great opportunity to have a little bit more of a nonchalant experience for us. We all just came back from the most heightened emotional states of our lives, and we’re now able to just enjoy everything that gymnastics offers in the intangible – the flexibility, the beauty, the artistry, the fun. I want to emphasize the fun that we’re going to have. I hope that people watch this and just go, ‘Man, what an awesome experience. Okay, you know what? I like this side of gymnastics, but I’m also curious about what a competition looks like.’ And maybe they’ll use this and snowball into coming to competition. So we’ll see. I can’t wait to see what happens, it’s going to be great. We’re all going to get a ton of exposure and I’m just looking forward to it.

And I think just for the young kids coming up – you’ve talked quite a lot about being that little kid and looking up to your heroes – and now you’re one of them. Does that just feel like, ‘oh, my gosh, now I’m in this spot?!’ Is it just still surreal?

It’s an honor that I don’t take lightly at all. I talked a lot about how most people might think that wearing the USA flag comes with heightened pressure, and it absolutely does. But you have to look at that pressure in a different perspective that most people would kill to be wearing that flag. I think most people don’t realize how much of an honor, and not really as a privilege, but it’s an opportunity to rise to the occasion to be the role model for a lot of these kids. And it’s not even just the kids. It’s the general population. The dream is the average football watching American dad to be like, ‘Oh, you know what gymnastics is on? I’ll watch this, too’. I think that’s the dream. I came up with that on the spot, so if that doesn’t resonate, whatever. But that’s what you want. And it’s not even necessarily about learning every name of every trick. I’m a realist. If you don’t know the language, you’re not going to know every skill. Just like I watch football, but I’m not going to know the name of every single slant route or cut route or position, formation, whatever.

But I can watch football and enjoy it for what it is. I think that’s the goal. You just want to be the steward of culture and the future of the sport that people want to watch and watch maybe more often than just the Olympics. But man, we definitely had a ton of exposure during the Olympics, so that was good.

It’s been so much fun to see all the well-deserved attention. You guys all deserve it so much, and it was just so much fun to see and to see it continue…. Different from competition, the tour, a little more showmanship, maybe some dancing… Are you ready for that?

Oh, yeah. I’ve told everybody on the tour that this was an opportunity I did not see coming my way, and I worked too hard in my life to not try anything – I’m going to be the guy that can do anything. They need some guy to do the splits in jeans? I’ll be your guy. It’s going to be really fun. I think it’s going to be an opportunity as well to heal up your body. It’s less impact for the next two months. Hopefully, I just focus on my conditioning and my fitness levels, and I come back to Michigan in great shape and ready to go.

I think one of the things that a lot of people have talked about with the guys in particular is the camaraderie, especially this last quad, just coming from Worlds last year onto this Olympic team. What’s it going to be like touring with some of these guys, getting back together, and being together nonstop for two months?

I’m sure if you ask me in two months, I’ll have a different answer. No, I’m just kidding! But no, I’m really excited. I like to think of these moments as… I mean, maybe because marriage is at the top of my mind, too. But,these are the times where you’re like, ‘Okay, who would I want to be at my special day? How close am I going to get with these guys?’ So, yeah, it’s going to be a great time. I’m really looking forward to connecting with some of the women and hopefully seeing them in a much more relaxed state than their Elite training minds, because there’s no doubt that when they’re training, they’re locked in 100%. So to be able to see them on their off days or their lighter days, that’s going to be so much fun. And at the end of the day, I’ve always said this, too, about gymnastics, which is it’s hard to sometimes equate gymnastics to a job because the amount of work that you’re putting in is disproportionate to the final product. You might work really hard, but then you go to a meet and fall all over the place. It’s like, ‘I worked so hard for four months, five months, and that’s what I got out of it.’ I’m looking at the show, just the overall repetitive nature of the show, we’re going to keep getting better and better at it. And the final production is going to be like, ‘wow, look how good this looks altogether!’ So I’m looking at that as well.

Awesome. Anything else that you want to share about your Olympic experience or what you’re most looking forward to on tour over the next few months?

I would just say, come down, come chat, come always. We relish this opportunity. Brett McClure said it best, himself being a 20-year past silver medalist in the Team Final – ‘when you’re out of the spotlight, you’re out of the spotlight. Nobody knows who you are.’ I’m soaking it all in. Please come. Please ask about the experience. You’ll never know how much it means to us to talk about it and share what we learn. So, I’m really excited to meet all the fans. Come get your tickets now. They’re selling out fast.

About Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour 

The Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour is an exhilarating display of jaw-dropping athleticism and high-energy choreography with an inspirational message of hope, strength, resilience, and determination. Led by Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all time, the Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour—or GOAT, its sublime acronym—will have audiences on the edge of their seat with every tumble, twist and gravity-defying trick.

 This pop concert-style spectacle will showcase the athletic brilliance and championship journeys of Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Hezly Rivera, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Frederick Richard, Joscelyn Roberson, Shane Wiskus and Yul Moldauer. Other cast members joining them on tour include Katelyn Ohashi, Peng-Peng Lee, Mélanie Johanna De Jesus Dos Santos, and Casimir Schmidt.

Secure your tickets now for an unforgettable show!

The tour schedule is as follows (subject to change):

September 17 Oceanside, CA Frontwave Arena

September 18 Phoenix, AZ Footprint Center

September 20 Los Angeles, CA Crypto.com Arena

September 21 San Jose, CA SAP Center at San Jose

September 23 Salt Lake City, UT Maverik Center

September 25 Denver, CO Ball Arena

September 27 Minneapolis, MN Target Center

September 28 Milwaukee, WI Fiserv Forum

September 29 Chicago, IL United Center

October 1 Newark, NJ Prudential Center

October 2 Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena

October 4 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center

October 5 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center

October 6 Boston, MA TD Garden

October 8 Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena

October 9 Charlotte, NC Spectrum Center

October 11 Sunrise, FL Amerant Bank Arena

October 12 Orlando, FL Kia Center

October 13 Duluth, GA Gas South Arena

October 15 St. Charles, MO The Family Arena

October 16 Kansas City, MO T-Mobile Center

October 18 Austin, TX Moody Center

October 19 Houston, TX Toyota Center

October 20 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena

October 27 Cleveland, OH Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse

October 29 Indianapolis, IN Gainbridge Fieldhouse

October 30 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center

November 1 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum

November 2 Cincinnati, OH Heritage Bank Center

November 3 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena

For more information, visit www.goldoveramericatour.com and follow @goldoveramericatour on Instagram and Facebook; #GoldOverAmericaTour.

For our behind-the-scenes feature on the 2021 the Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour, Click Here!

About MagicSpace Entertainment

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