“My wife’s a warrior - When Simone Biles’ husband Jonathan Owens hailed Olympian for winning three gold medals despite calf injury at Paris Olympics

Simone Biles' husband Jonathan Owens had called the Olympian a warrior for achieving massive success, with a persisting calf injury, at the Paris Olympics. The Chicago Bears safety attended and cheered on Biles in Paris despite his tight NFL schedule ahead of the Hall of Fame Game.

Biles stepped on the gymnastics mat as the top seed at the Olympics, fresh off winning the World title in 2023 and the National and US Classic titles in 2024. Though she missed the Tokyo Olympics in the wake of 'twisties', the 27-year-old was in strong form to prove herself in the 'redemption tour'. However, a slight calf injury sustained during a floor warm-up ahead of Rotation 2 of the team competition almost ended her dreams.

Despite the 'little something in her calf', as confirmed by her former coach Cecile Landi, Biles won four medals, three golds in the team, all-around and vault, and a silver in the floor routine. The act of perseverance caught the attention of her husband, NFL player Jonathan Owens, who was seated in the audience to watch his wife perform.

In a Chicago Bears press conference on August 6, 2024, Owens recalled watching Biles perform with the calf injury and how he admired her for her resilience and ability to go the distance.

"Her resilience, and when she did decide to come back, she accomplished everything that she set her mind to, and just being able to witness every day the training you go through, obviously the first day when she had the injury a little bit to her calf, and just her ability to persevere through that and go out there and still dominate is just amazing to watch," he said.

He added:

"My wife's a warrior, that's the one thing I tell people."

Owens frequented Biles' events from the beginning of 2024 and was often spotted leaving his seat to cheer or take down scores in a notebook.

Aly Raisman shared the real reason behind Simone Biles competing with a calf injury

Simone Biles before competing in the balance beam final at the Paris 2024 Olympics. - Source: Getty

In the first season of the Netflix documentary 'Simone Biles Rising', Simone Biles reflected on the post-Tokyo Olympic time when people criticized her for withdrawing midway through the event and called her a 'quitter'. In the promo of the documentary's second season, Aly Raisman, a former gymnast and hospitality ambassador of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, shared that her 'Final Five' teammate admitted performing to dodge criticisms in Paris, despite a calf injury.

"After the competition, I asked, 'How did you do that again in so much pain?' And she said, 'I couldn't have people tell me I was a quitter again."

The second season of the Netflix docuseries, 'Simone Biles Rising', will hit the OTT screen on October 25, 2024.