Not just any group of fitness fanatics… we’re talking about the best of the best. The world’s most decorated elite athletes are heading to Chicago this week to meet up with someone who knows a thing or two about working out and losing weight—-Oprah Winfrey.
The winningest athlete in Olympic history, Michael Phelps, along with 150 other U.S. Olympic team members, including gold medal gymnast Nastia Liukin and basketball super star Kobe Bryant, who was a member of the gold medal winning “Redeem Team,” will be in the Windy City on Wednesday to tape the season premiere of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
According to show producers, the episode is being billed as a “welcome home celebration” and a chance to showcase Chicago as the city competes to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
But enough about that; let’s discuss the other hard bodies you will be seeing on Oprah’s show when it airs on Monday, September 8th (the show tapes this Wednesday, but it won’t be broadcast until the 8th). In addition to golden boy Phelps, the beach volleyball gold medal team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh along with gold medal basketball players Carmelo Anthony, Lisa Leslie and Dwyane Wade, along with silver medal swimmer Dara Torres will all be getting face time on Oprah’s 23rd season premiere.
The salute to these world-class athletes is reportedly going to be so grand that Winfrey secured permission from city leaders to tape the show at Chicago’s famed Millennium Park. The vast venue gave fans a rare opportunity to score Oprah tickets. On Friday morning show producers announced that 2,000 seats would be up for grabs beginning at noon on Saturday. Needless to say, some crazed fans were already in line by 3 a.m. Saturday and the tickets were gone in less than an hour.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that another 7,000 festival-style lawn seats will be available Wednesday for anyone who was not able to score a ticket yesterday. So, if you are planning to be in the Chicagoland area this Wednesday and want to see the stars of summer, the bodacious bods of Beijing… or whatever they are being referred as these days this is your golden opportunity.