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Simone Biles will compete in her third Olympics after finishing first place in the US Gymnastics Olympic Trials.
The Olympian competed at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she became the fourth American woman to compete in a third Olympic games and, at the age of 27, she is the oldest American gymnast to compete at the Olympics in 72 years. Throughout the trials, her family members were in attendance, including her husband, Jonathan Owens, safety for the Chicago Bears.
Owens took to his Instagram Stories after the results were revealed, as he posted a photo of the leaderboard showing Biles in first place with text across the screen that read: “We going to Paris. Man I’m so proud.”
When asked about her husband’s support during a press conference that night, Biles said: “I think it’s super exciting that we get to be in each other’s elements and supporting each other’s dreams and goals.”
“It’s these memories that we make that we’ll never get back,” she added. “So anytime we can show up for one another and support, we just get super excited because our schedules don’t align that much.”
NBC also posted a clip on X, formerly Twitter, showing Biles’ performance on the uneven bars as Owens was sitting with his wife’s family and cheering her on. “A husband supporting his wife never gets old. THE OWENS,” one person commented underneath the post.
This isn’t the first time Owens has attended one of his wife’s events. In May, the gymnast showed off a photo of her husband supporting her at the 2024 Core Hydration Gymnastics Classic. “My whole heart,” she wrote in her caption. “The best supporter, I couldn’t ask for a better husband.”
Following the post, some people took to the comments to remind the Olympian that she was the “prize” in their relationship while claiming that Owens was doing the “bare minimum.”
The comments came from Owens’ December 2023 appearance on The Pivot podcast, where he made the claim that he was “the catch” in their relationship and had “no idea” who Biles was upon seeing her profile on the dating app Raya.
“When she won the Olympics, I was in college and we didn’t have NBC, we didn’t have Olympics channels, and we were in [training] camp [in] late July, early August,” he said at the time. “So I’m not paying attention. I never would’ve had a moment where I would’ve watched [her compete].”
Biles had turned to her own Instagram Stories to address anyone making negative comments toward her husband. “I’m going to quickly address this, the joke was never a joke! Y’all are blatantly being disrespectful to my relationship and my husband. So I’m gonna go ahead and say this one time. Respectfully, f*** off,” she wrote.
“[And] if you keep commenting or tweeting at me I’m just going to block you. Simple as that. And no I don’t need to touch grass or whatever tf y’all suggest...”
The post concluded: “@everyone else that supports us, we love y’all so much.”
