Simone Biles is without doubt one of the most gifted athletes in the history of sports. The Olympic Gold winning gymnast has broken many world records, but during the Tokyo Olympics, she’s also become something of a spokesperson for mental health following her exit from the women’s team event.
Back in the US, Biles regularly shares her daily life with her 5 million Instagram followers. But one of her biggest – if not the biggest – fans is her wonderful boyfriend, Jonathan Owens.
So who is Simone Biles’ boyfriend Jonathan Owens? And how did they meet? This is all you need to know!
Watching the Olympics is one of my favorite things. Not only do we get to see sports that we might not watch on a daily basis. But there are simply so many talented athletes in the world who are finally getting their shot on the world’s biggest stage.
Some of these sports – such as track & field, rowing, badminton, diving or fencing – are easier to follow and understand.
One sport that always leaves me pretty much in shock, meanwhile, is gymnastics.
Simone Biles – gymnastic superstar
Being able to do somersaults on a pommel horse or trampoline is just amazing. These days, gymnasts are doing two or even three (!) somersaults in a row. How that is possible I cannot comprehend. Even so, getting the opportunity to watch them always leaves me so impressed!
There are many gymnasts competing in the Olympics, and each one should be praised for their courage and talent. However, one that certainly demands more attention than any other is U.S gymnast Simone Biles.
Despite the fact that she’s only 24 years of age, Biles is now competing in her third Olympic Games. She’s already broken many records, and at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, she won three gold medals, as well as a bronze.
Few athletes have been able to draw so much interest to gymnastics as a sport – today, Biles is a true superstar.
Besides countless hours of practice through the years, Simone has now also gotten herself a boyfriend. Jonathan Owens is also an athlete, though not in the same sport.
Their love story is super sweet, and we simply had to share it. Here’s all you need to know about Simone Biles’ career – and her lovely boyfriend Jonathan.
Simone Biles – early life
Simone Biles didn’t always have an easy life. Born on March 14, 1997 in Columbus, Ohio, she and her sister were raised by their grandparents. Simone and her sister’s mother had substance problems, and before long, they were adopted by their grandparents full time.
Biles calls her grandmother Nellie “mom”, and she’s been a great source of support for the talented gymnast throughout her career.
“She encourages me and never lets me feel down about something for too long,” Biles told CNN.
Initially, however, Simone was placed in foster care before being adopted by her grandparents.
“I don’t remember a lot about foster care, but I definitely knew that we had been taken from our biological mom and then you just think you’re going to go back to her,” she said in her Facebook series Simone vs. Herself.
“[Me and my siblings] were very fortunate that we actually got to stay with our siblings because a lot of the time you either get regrouped from home to home to home or you and your siblings get split up.”
At 6-years of age, Biles’ life would change forever.
Start of career
Alongside her friends at the daycare program, she was supposed to go on a field trip to a farm. However, the weather was too bad.
“Okay, everyone, listen up,” Adam said. “We were supposed to go to a farm in the country today. But since it’s raining so hard, we’re taking you to a tumbling gym instead’,” Biles recalled of the day in her 2012 book Courage to Soar.
“The minute I got inside Bannon’s, I saw all kinds of equipment made for just my size – low beams and low bars and floor vaults that I was eager to try,” Biles wrote.
“I watched a gymnast do a back handspring skill on the vault, and I immediately wanted to try out the same move on the kiddie springboard. I let loose, going from one apparatus to the other, trying to copy skills I saw the older gymnasts practicing in the gym.”
The center took notice of Biles. The teachers were all impressed, and before long, she started practicing for real.
Simone Biles was the smallest person in her class. However, that didn’t matter at all.
“I didn’t see the talent that I had and the pace I went, which was so much faster than my teammates,” she said.
Simone was hooked on gymnastics. At 13 years of age, she was practicing more than 16 hours each week, but the dream of turning professional was still far away.
4 gold medals at 2016 Olympics
She realized that she needed to put even more work into it, and at that point, she began homeschooling in order to commit more hours in the gym. But that also came with a price.
“I was just so lonely all the time,” she told The Undefeated. “I missed all my friends at school, but in the end, it worked out.”
It didn’t take long before Biles also realized how great of a gymnast she was. In 2013, she made her international debut at the American Cup, and left everyone in shock. This was no ordinary gymnast; Simone Biles was a superstar.
The same year, she won her two first World Championships, and by the Glasgow 2015 World Championships, she had won a staggering 10 gold medals.
As 2016 started, Simone Biles had become a dominant force within the gymnastic world. Her first triumphs sparked a wave of total dominance which continued at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where she won four gold medals.
By 2019 – age 21 – she became the most decorated American gymnast ever.
Biles was in the artistic team all-around that won silver at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this week. However, she pulled out of the team final following the vault, saying she needed to take care of her mental health.
Simone Biles – mental health
“After further medical evaluation, Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final individual all-around competition,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement
“We wholeheartedly support Simone’s decision and applaud her bravery in prioritizing her well-being,” USA Gymnastics added. “Her courage shows, yet again, why she is a role model for so many.”
On Wednesday, it was announced that Biles also withdrew from Thursday’s individual all-around competition. But no matter what happens, she has proven herself to be more than just a gymnast. Biles is, just like everyone else, a human being with feelings.
By speaking openly about her mental health, she’s a true hero who will help people all around the world from this day forward.
Last year, Simone announced that she was in a relationship with now boyfriend Jonathan Owens.
Their love story – though yet brief – is very sweet.
The Tokyo Olympic Games was originally supposed to take place last summer. Because of the pandemic however, they were postponed, and therefore Simone had a lot of free time.
Who is Simone Biles boyfriend?
In March last year, she signed up to the celebrity dating app Raya – and that’s where she met Jonathan Owens.
Owens, 26, plays safety for the Houston Texans in the NFL.
In the beginning, Jonathan didn’t really know who she was. Fortunately, that turned out to be a blessing.
“I didn’t know who she was,” Owens told Texas Monthly.
“I just hadn’t heard of her, and when I told her that, that’s one of the things she liked.”
“He would say I slid into his DMs,” Simone Biles told Wall Street Journal Magazine. “I saw him and I was like, ‘Oh, he’s pretty cute,’ so I said hi … and then I saw that he was in the Houston area, so we started chatting a little bit, and then we went to hang out a week or two later.”
In fact, Simone and Jonathan actually got some help on the way. That, from her younger sister, Adria.
For several weeks, she had seen the two lovebirds talking to each other through FaceTime. Adria decided to grab her sister’s phone one day as they were chatting, and invited Jonathan to a family lake house.
Jonathan Owens – Simone Biles’ boyfriend
The family loved Jonathan – and the couple got to spend some quality time together. Soon, the NFL star was also invited to the Biles’ family dinners.
“We ended up hanging out right before the pandemic,” Jonathan said.
“It was one of the few times in her life where everything was just shut off and she couldn’t do anything. So we used it to get to know each other — really get to know each other. It created our bond and made it stronger.”
Being a player in the NFL sure is a tough job. Just as for any other athlete, it takes hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours of training to reach your goal – training Owens put in.
He studied at Missouri Western State University before entering the NFL in 2018 with the Arizona Cardinals. In 2020, he signed with Houston.
But his kind of training wasn’t even close to what Simone Biles was doing – and Jonathan was left impressed.
“A match made in heaven”
“Her work ethic was really the first thing that caught my eye,” he said in Simone’s Facebook series Simone Vs Herself. “I never really watched gymnastics before I first started talking to her.”
It’s been more than a year since Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens started dating – and they look so happy together! With the downtime during the quarantine period, Biles also got to experience a lot of football as she supported her boyfriend. The same goes for Owens, who’s been – and still is – one of Biles’ biggest fans.
“This was a match made in heaven,” Owens said. “There’s no better person for me. She loves me.”
“He’s a real man. I just, I love him,” Simone Biles told Today.
“We have a great time together. Our personalities match right up. We have the same sense of humor. And he’s just great. He’s an athlete, too, so we really understand each other and I think that’s why our relationship has been seamless.”
Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens sure make a cute couple. We wish them all the best of luck in the future – hopefully, we will see Simone Biles back at the top of the podium soon.
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