Simone Biles heads crew of elite-level gymnasts landing at North Little Rock's Simmons Bank Arena for Gold Over America Tour

It was the end of a long week for gymnast Simone Biles.

A few days earlier she was in Washington, testifying to a congressional committee about the FBI's failure to investigate or even acknowledge accusations of abuse against U.S. Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.

Then she headed to Tucson, Ariz., where she, her recent Tokyo Olympic teammates and a handful of other star gymnasts were preparing to kick off the Athleta Presents Gold Over America Tour, which kicked off Sept. 21 in Tucson and is hitting 35 arenas across the country. The tour stops at 7 p.m. Sunday at North Little Rock's Simmons Bank Arena.

Biles and the tour publicists, in setting the parameters for an interview, asked that journalists not ask her directly about the "twisties" — Biles' official reason for withdrawing from some events at the Olympics — or about her abuse at Nassar's hands.

However, in an interview with New York Magazine that came out in late September, she acknowledged that she "should have quit way before Tokyo" rather than trying to power through the Olympic competition.

She also revealed that the reasons she dropped out of most of her events were far more emotionally complex than a case of the "twisties," the sudden loss of spatial awareness that is terrifying for a gymnast who is in the midst of a dangerous leap when it strikes. Even now, she told the magazine, her recovery remains "a work in progress."

"If you looked at everything I've gone through for the past seven years, I should have never made another Olympic team," she said. "I should have quit way before Tokyo, when Larry Nassar was in the media for two years. It was too much.

"But I was not going to let him take something I've worked for since I was 6 years old. I wasn't going to let him take that joy away from me. So I pushed past that for as long as my mind and my body would let me."

Biles withdrew from several Olympic events but earned a bronze medal in the individual balance beam and joined in the team's silver medal.

Biles and her friend and Olympic teammate Jordan Chiles, doing interviews via Zoom from Tucson, described tour preparations as "rehearsals" rather than "practice."

"A little practice built in to keep up our skills," she explains, but mostly working on the elaborate dance numbers and the formations that make up the show that promoters are describing as a "high-energy, gymnastics-meets-pop-concert spectacular."

Chiles in particular noted the many numbers she's doing, including involving parts of her "Wonder Woman" floor routine that shows "how cute and powerful a woman I am." She also does some routines on the balance beam, the uneven bars and the floor, and promises "new skills nobody has seen before."

Biles has a number on the beam, but she says the majority of what fans will see her performing is tumbling and dancing. And with four shows a week, while the show features some Olympic-level gymnastic skills, you won't see her doing the riskier ones. "No triple doubles," she explains. "Some double-As and double-A halves.

"But it will be so exciting no matter what we do."

Biles and Chiles (they admit that sounds like a vaudeville duo) have been friends for several years — Chiles describes them as "two peas in a pod."

Much of the show features what Biles calls "atmosphere" — gymnastics, dancers, music, lights, storytelling, background stories, reflecting what life is like on a daily basis.

And there's at least a nod to the mental health concerns that Biles and other athletes face, in gymnastics and in other sports, letting them and others know that "it's OK to just get through it — and it's OK to speak up, to step away."

Buying a "Gold Squad" ticket gives those showgoers the possibility of coming down onto the stage to dance in the finale.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — a helluva show," Biles says. "You're taking a piece of gold with you when you're leaving the arena," Chiles adds.

And, Biles notes, "this may be the last chance to see some of your favorites live," in a way, "making up for the lack of opportunity to have seen us in Japan." (Pandemic protocols banned overseas family members, friends and fans from attending the Olympics.)

And you shouldn't shy away from the high price of a ticket. "You are paying to see the best in the world," Biles says simply.

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Joining Biles will be teammates Jade Carey, who won gold in floor exercise; MyKayla Skinner, who won silver in vault; Chiles; and Grace McCallum, who also won silver for team competition.

The cast also includes gymnasts Laurie Hernandez, 2016 gold and silver Olympic medalist in Rio and "Dancing With the Stars" champion; NCAA National Champion Katelyn Ohashi, who became a video sensation when her winning floor routine went viral online; Morgan Hurd, winner of three gold medals in 2019 and 2020 at the Tokyo World Cup; and Chellsie Memmel, former USA Gymnastics Women's Athlete of the Year.

According to a news release, "the show emerges from their personal values of empowerment, friendship, positive body image, mental health awareness and self-confidence. A crew of gymnastic dancers under LED video screens and lights rounds out the experience."