Texans’ Jonathan Owens ‘was sick’ watching girlfriend Simone Biles struggle at Olympics
American gymnastics superstar and all-time great Simone Biles withdrew from the women’s team final during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo and ultimately didn’t participate in the all-around competition and multiple individual events due to mental health issues she later linked with what gymnasts refer to as the “twisties.”
Houston Texans safety Jonathan Owens, Biles’ boyfriend, reflected on his experience watching Biles pull out of the team competition while speaking on Thursday.
“I was sick for her, just because I can see her face, I kind of know her facial expressions, I can kind of read her lips and kind of know what was going on and kind of what she was telling her coach,” Owens explained, per Sarah Barshop of ESPN. “I kind of already knew what was going on beforehand so I was just really hoping she was going to get over it and be able to go out there and perform. So I was sick to my stomach because she wasn’t able to go out there.”
Biles later noted via an Instagram post that her “mind and body” were “simply not in sync” during the Olympics, and Owens remarked that Biles “was kind of in a funk when everything wasn’t going right.”
Biles returned to win the bronze medal in the balance beam, and Owens added he was proud of her recovery. “Just to be able to overcome mentally what was going on. She kind of altered her beam routine, but I was just happy for her,” he said.
According to NBC Philadelphia, the two met in March 2020 via social media.
