Jonathan Owens returns to Bears after Biles' Olympic wins
LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Jonathan Owens stepped up to the lectern with his Team USA credential and lanyard, covered in Olympic pins of every color, shape and size, around his neck. He proudly picked out one from the bunch to show reporters, a gold heart-shaped pin with a swirly autograph in the center.
"My favorite pin would be the one I went there with," Owens said. "And that's the Simone Biles pin."
"That's my wife," he added, smiling, as if the reporters in the room needed a reminder.
The Chicago Bears allowed Owens, a safety in his sixth NFL season but his first in Chicago, to miss practices and the first exhibition game last week to travel to Paris and watch Biles win gold in the team final and in the all-around final as she became America's most decorated gymnast. Owens became a fixture on the NBC gymnastics broadcasts, enthusiastically keeping score with Biles' parents in the stands. He said he fielded tons of requests from people in Paris asking him for one of Biles' exclusive signature pins.
"I would only trade it if it was a super cool pin," he said.
Owens said he is most proud of his wife for "her resilience" in coming back to gymnastics after a battle with the "twisties" to win three gold medals and one silver at these Olympics.
Owens witnessed Biles train every day in her return to gymnastics, and he even saw her take on one more challenge in Paris when she tweaked her calf during warmups on floor exercise for team qualifiers last week. Biles wrapped her calf for the rest of her long week of competitions -- which included 17 routines -- but she showed no sign of weakness.
"Her ability to persevere through that and go out there and still dominate was amazing to watch," Owens said. "My wife is a warrior. I equate it to how we are in football. You limp around, and it will hurt before, but as soon as you go, you forget about it. Pain tolerance, the way she was able to go out there and look graceful and people didn't have a clue what was going on."
Owens said he was in awe of the French architecture, seeing the Mona Lisa and her watching eyes, and experiencing the multicultural crowd at the gymnastics competitions. He sat behind members of the Brazilian team and next to a group from Italy.
"But competition is universal," he said. "So everyone is in there stressed, and cheering for whoever you are there to support. Brazil would put their flag up, so I am standing up, like, U-S-A! U-S-A!"
On Sunday, Biles tweeted her annoyance at being asked about her future and what's next for her in the sport. Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade told The Washington Post that Biles told her that Paris would be her last competition, and Biles had previously said that she thought Tokyo in 2021 would be her last Olympics but that the pandemic and her disappointing performance there changed her mind.
On Tuesday, she kept the door open for a potential return to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. "The next Olympics is at home," she told the "Today" show. "So you never know."
When asked about Biles' future and their plans together, Owens echoed his wife's anything-could-happen attitude.
"I don't like to plan things," Owens said. "She is more of the planner. I am more of a go-with-the-flow type of person. She's like, 'Oh, you're too calm!' [We're just going to] enjoy each other. I can't speak for the future or what is going to happen, just be in the moment. I don't like to look too far ahead because that causes anxiety."
For now, Owens knows Biles is looking forward to rooting for him and the Bears this NFL season.
"She is super excited to be an NFL wife; that is one of her favorite things to do. She loves to be in the stands and watch the game and know this is something I love to do. And it's not all about her in that moment and people just get to watch the football game. She likes it just, like I said, just take a step back and be one of the wives. To have fun and be normal."
