What To Know About Simone Biles' Relationship With Jonathan Owens

Pretty much everyone's heard of Simone Biles, the superstar gymnast that reps the United States at the Olympic Games. The incredible athlete has multiple tricks and moves named after her because she's the only one that can do them. According to the Team USA website, Biles has won 14 world medals — the most in U.S. history — and 10 world championship gold medals — the most of any female gymnast ever. Oh, and she also has a gorgeous, professional football player boyfriend named Jonathan Owens.

According to Elle, Owens played for the Arizona Cardinals until he was injured in 2019. Now, as per the team website, the 25-year-old St. Louis native plays for the Houston Texans. But how did Owens and Biles meet? What's their romance like? Are they serious about each other? How do they balance their relationship with two very busy, very demanding careers? Here's the truth about Simone Biles' relationship with Jonathan Owens.

The world of professional gymnastics and that of the NFL are very different. So how, then, did two people from these very different worlds meet? Social media, of course. As per an interview Simone Biles did with the Wall Street Journal, she first interacted with Jonathan Owens on Instagram around March of 2020. "He would say I slid into his DMs," the gymnast revealed. "I saw him and I was like, 'Oh, he's pretty cute,' so I said hi." Simone added that, after spending time "chatting" on Instagram, the pair met up in person since they were both around Houston, Texas.

Their romance quickly blossomed from there, partly because of Simone's younger sister, Adria Biles. As the Wall Street Journal also reported, Biles was FaceTiming with Owens one night when Adria snatched the phone and asked Owens to come meet the Biles family at their lake house. He said yes — and even brought his dog along for the trip.

It's easy to say that everyone knows who Simone Biles is. But, apparently, her boyfriend Jonathan Owens had no clue who she was when they first started messaging on Instagram — though he certainly did notice that she had four million Instagram followers. "I didn't know who she was," Owens explained to Texas Monthly. "I just hadn't heard of her, and when I told her that, that's one of the things she liked." That's certainly understandable, as one can safely assume that it can be tough to be one of the most recognized Olympians in the world. Perhaps being unknown with Owens allowed Biles a chance to really be herself?

No matter what it was about Owens that Biles liked, the two athletes quickly became a couple. Biles first posted about their relationship on Instagram in August of 2020 — a sweet selfie with the caption "It's just us." Owens posted his first couple photo with Biles that September, writing, "Now you rocking with real one."

There aren't many silver linings to the COVID-19 pandemic — but Simone Biles' relationship with Jonathan Owens might be one of them. As reported by Texas Monthly, the pandemic forced both the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic and the 2020 NFL training camp session to postpone, leaving Biles and Owens free to spend quality time together. "We ended up hanging out right before the pandemic," Owens explained to the publication. "It was one of the few times in her life where everything was just shut off and she couldn't do anything."

Between practices, press appearances, competitions, sponsorship commercials, and everything else on Biles' plate, it makes sense that a global pandemic would be one of the few things that would give her the time needed to date — and Owens is really happy it did. "We used [the time off] to get to know each other — really get to know each other," he added. "It created our bond and made it stronger. Now I'm so thankful."

It can be hard to imagine that a professional gymnast and an NFL player have much in common, but Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens certainly do; one thing is their love of bulldogs. According to Elle, both Biles and Owens have bulldogs: Biles, two French bulldogs named Lilo and Rambo, and Owens, one bulldog named Zeus — and man, does this couple love their dogs. Owens has an Instagram account for Zeus in which he posts lots and lots of doggy glamour shots. Lilo and Rambo also have their own Insta, but they also make frequent appearances on Biles' account as well, like one post in which Biles admits she's a "dog mom."

And it gets cuter! Apparently Zeus, Lilo, and Rambo are all in love, too. "I'll show up at her house," Owens told Texas Monthly, "and her dogs will peek around her looking for my dog. They've become best friends."

Being a professional athlete is high-pressure to the max. For Simone Biles, one trip or misplaced grip could mean the end of her gold medal dreams. For Jonathan Owens, one missed tackle could cost his team a win. As horrible as this pressure sounds, it served as even more glue in Biles' and Owens' relationship. As Owens explained to Texas Monthly, "It's a great feeling when the person you're in a relationship with understands what you're going through." He went on to add that he and Biles often discuss the pressure she's under. "I try to be her motivating factor whenever I sense that she's kind of maybe getting down on herself," Owens said.

And Biles does the same for Owens. "She'll be telling me, 'Don't be a baby, you're all right.' We're both super competitive. When I see her getting up and going to practice every morning, it motivates me even more," he explained. Plus, if her Instagram is any proof, Biles does her best to be at her boyfriend's games. "You know where to find me on Sundays," she posted alongside a photo of her decked out in Houston Texans gear.

Jonathan Owens saw Simone Biles compete live for the first time at the 2021 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. When Texas Monthly asked him what that experience was like he replied, "Unbelievable. It's so amazing to watch. When I saw her for the first time, I realized that the TV really doesn't do it justice. When she goes out there and does it, it looks so effortless."

It appears that Biles' extreme skill is one of the things Owens loves most about her. "The coolest thing for me is that I get to witness someone who is literally in the pinnacle of their sport," Owens gushed in Episode 3 of the Facebook Watch series "Simone Vs. Herself. She certainly is at the pinnacle of gymnastics as, according to NBC Dallas Fort Worth, Biles won that competition, making it her seventh U.S. title. Owens is also in awe of the fact that his talented girlfriend is such an inspiration for other gymnasts, athletes, and regular people. "It's motivating to see that and the impact that she has on people," he added. "We were walking past this group of girls and they were shaking, 'Oh my god, it's Simone!”

As two athletes at the top of their sports, it makes sense that Simone Biles and her boyfriend, Jonathan Owens, engage in a little friendly competition. But Owens was definitely surprised when Biles kicked his butt at one of them. In one episode of her Facebook Watch docuseries titled "Who Am I?," Biles and Owens do a rope climbing contest. Though it started off neck and neck, the pint-sized Olympian quickly pulled ahead of her NFL man — with her legs perfectly straight and her toes pointed, of course. "I thought I was athletic until I came and tried to do this," Owens joked later in the episode.

The professional football player even admitted to Texas Monthly that gymnastics might be harder than football. "It took me a while to come to grips with how hard her sport was," he told the publication. "When we were first together, I was like, 'Man, you can't come outside and guard these wide receivers. Gymnastics is not that hard.'" After the rope climbing contest, Owens has surely seen the error in that assumption.

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens might be getting pretty serious, especially considering that they have their families involved. "Everyone loves him, even my family," Biles said in the "Who Am I?" episode of her Facebook Watch series. The fact that her family loves him is a big deal, too. "I can't tell you how scared I was to take him over there," the gymnast went on. "I was like, 'My parents are a little harsh ... so don't worry if they don't like you' But then he met my brother, met my family, and then it just clashed really well." Biles even added that Owens sometimes goes over to hang out with her family even when she's not there.

And, if social media is to be believed, Biles gets along with Owens' family, too. The adorable couple spent Christmas 2020 with the Owens clan, as per an Instagram post on his account featuring a cute snap of him and Biles in holiday shirts with the caption, "Always good to spend Christmas with the fam."

Elite athletes live, breathe, eat, and sleep their sports. They consume their every waking moment, and oftentimes their dreams as well. One can imagine it's surely this way for Simone Biles, but her coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi believes that having a balance between gymnastics and life makes for a better gymnast. "When you're happy, in your outside life, then you're a lot happier in what you have to do," the coach said in one episode of Biles' Facebook Watch docuseries titled "Who Am I?" 

According to Landi, Biles is happy. "You can totally see it, she got her house and she has a great boyfriend who's very supportive, who's pushing her to be the best she can be," the coach continued. "She feels like, 'I'm not alone and I have the support that I need.'" Does this happiness and support make a difference in Biles' performance? Again, Lani says yes. "You can see it," the coach stated."She's different."

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were a long time coming for Simone Biles — but she's ready, largely in part to her boyfriend Jonathan Owens. "He's always so supportive," Biles told People. "Even if I wake up in the morning and I'm like, 'I'm tired, do I have to go,' jokingly, he's like 'Don't say that! You can do it, this is your dream!'" Beyond being her motivation and her cheerleader, Owens also helps ensure that Biles stays safe and healthy. "He's always, always so helpful and making sure I stay on top of my therapy and all of that," she continued. "He's the best because he also goes through it, so he knows exactly how it is in the process. It's been amazing to have him."

Owens also agrees that he's been able to support his girlfriend so well because they're both professional athletes. "There are nights we'll both be on the couch in [compression] boots because we both had a hard day," he explained to Texas Monthly. These two really do have a lot in common.

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens celebrated their one year anniversary with a romantic trip to Belize. The Olympian shared a photo from their getaway on Instagram with the caption, "I love you more than I love Belize and that's a lot."

Beyond all this evidence that Biles and Owens have a great relationship, all fans have to do is ask the couple themselves about how they feel to believe that it's real. "We vibe on the same level. We have the same kind of humor. We're both athletic. We're both elite athletes," Biles revealed in the "Who Am I?" episode of her Facebook Watch series. "So we definitely get each other. It was like it was meant to be." What does Owens say about Biles? "This was a match made in heaven," he told Texas Monthly. "There's no better person for me. She loves me, she's so affectionate. I just love that. And it's just intoxicating seeing how much work she puts into everything."