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The 27-year-old gymnastics superstar’s husband should be getting ready to face his old Houston Texans team in the preseason, but instead, he’ll be by his wife’s side.
The 27-year-old gymnastics superstar’s husband should be getting ready to face his old Houston Texans team in the preseason, but instead, he’ll be by his wife’s side.
It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours back home for the Olympic champ, which now includes seeing boyfriend Jonathan Owens at his “office.”
Spring’s Simone Biles is poised to add to her decorated gymnastics career when she and the U.S. women’s team flip into the 2024 Paris Olympics.
But unlike her turn at the 2020 Summer Games, she’ll be supported in person by her husband, Jonathan Owens, a professional athlete in his own right.
The video above is from 2021 shortly after the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Owens, who met Biles when he was with the Houston Texans, is currently at the Chicago Bears training camp, a mandatory period to tune up for the season ahead. In fact, the Texans vs. the Bears is the first matchup of the preseason when the Hall of Fame Game unfolds on Thursday, Aug. 1.
You’ll be able to watch the game live on ABC13, starting at 7 p.m. CT.
So, how was Owens able to get a pass to be in Paris?
Owens said he made it a point to make it to the Olympics when he negotiated his two-year deal in the offseason with the Bears. The trip had been in the works since he signed as a free agent in March.
“It was something me and my agent talked about when we went in and I signed with the team,” Owens, who played in Green Bay last season, said. “The Olympics coming up and who my wife is, that was just something … it was all respectful. We went to them and just asked, ‘We would really appreciate it if he could go and support his wife,’ and they were really cool about it.”
Biles also praised the Bears, Owens said.
First-class organization. I just want to thank them so much even allowing me to go over and do that. I can’t wait to be able to support her, and I know my family and my wife, she really appreciates it,” he said.
Biles won the all-around gold medal and two other golds at the Rio Olympics in 2016. She’s a six-time world champion. She and the Americans are favored to win the team competition.
There apparently is no concern from teammates competing for jobs while Owens is allowed to leave camp. He’ll be gone from Monday night, July 29, until Aug. 3.
“Guys are just being super supportive, you know?” Owens said. “It’s super dope. They’re asking, bring some souvenirs back. That’s what they’re asking.”
Owens and Biles married last year. This is his first chance to see Biles compete in person at the Olympics because the 2020 games were postponed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then fans were not allowed at Tokyo venues.
“I was in training camp still, but I would wake up at like 4 or 5 in the morning before I had to go to practice so that I could see her events and everything,” Owens said.
Owens will try to stay in touch with the Bears throughout his trip.
“The coaches are doing an amazing job,” he said. “So they’re gonna make sure – every meeting is recorded, so I’ll be getting all the meetings, all the installs and everything. So I won’t miss a beat. I’ll make sure I’m working out over there and make sure I come back in good shape.”
The couple still has a house in Houston, where Biles trains. The plan is for Biles to join Owens in Chicago after a post-Olympics gymnastics tour for the U.S. team.
They’ve been apart while she was training, and he left for training camp.
What is the thing he’s looking forward to most?
“Seeing her, man,” he said. “I haven’t seen her in about three weeks now, so just seeing and just obviously, I’ve never been over to Paris, so that’s pretty cool to say that I’ve been able to go. But just seeing her and being able to see her do her thing. That’s really what I’m happy for.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.