“Why Is he Holding It Like He Won?” — Fans Divided Over Photo Of Jonathan Owens Wearing Simone Biles’ Gold Medal

Another gold medal for queen Simone Biles.

After competing in the team finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics yesterday, she secured her eighth Olympic medal and lead team USA to another gold victory.

Her husband, Jonathan Owens, a defensive back for the Chicago Bears, showed up in style, sporting a custom “Biles” shirt to the event and watched attentively, taking notes and keeping track of her scores:

Owens and Biles started dating in 2020, after meeting on the celebrity dating app Raya, and were married in April of last year.

Last December, Owens found himself in the middle on an (online) controversy, after appearing on The Pivot Podcast and telling host Ryan Clark that he considered himself to be “the catch” in their relationship.

Additionally, he added that he’d never heard of Simone Biles before they matched on Raya, despite the fact that Owens was playing for the Houston Texans at the time, and Biles is a Houston native, which yes, I think is really odd and kind of hard to believe. Ever since then, fans have been quick to make negative comments about Owens, though clearly he was in Paris ready to cheer on his wife and be extremely supportive.

He actually flew into Paris from Chicago at one o’clock in the afternoon (Paris time) yesterday, after getting let out of training camp for a few days to travel to Europe to see his wife and Team USA compete. After staying for several days to watch some of the other gymnastics events, he’ll head straight back to finish out camp.

And the photo he posted after her big win last night definitely goes to show that the fans are extremely divided on their feeling towards him still… Owens shared a picture with Simone after the event yesterday, where he was wearing her gold medal, proudly saying in the caption:

“Witnessing history every time you step on the mat. Congrats baby on becoming the most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history!!!! Just wow!!!! 8 of them!!!!! So thankful I was there to see it.”

And many fans took issue with the fact that he was wearing her medal in the photo, which they thought implied that he was taking ownership for her accomplishments? I don’t know, I think he was just excited and it’s likely she’s the one who put it on him, not him asking to wear it.

Take a look at some of the comments for yourself:

“Now you know who she is, right?”

“Why is he holding it like he won?”

“That’s Simone’s gold medal you’re holding, not yours my guy.’

“Give the medal back bby thats not yours.”

“But why are you wearing it? How odd.”

“You do realize that is not your medal… right? This is giving military wife vibes.”

“It’s her medal, she earned it.”

“Do you know who she is now? Lmao.”

“Is he being problematic on purpose? Serious question.”

“Why are you wearing her medal.”

“Why isn’t she wearing her medal though?”

“Why are you wearing her gold medal?”

“Um take off her medal.”

“Simone’s Gold medal. I know it is heavy, but really Simone should be wearing the Gold medal, not the husband. Especially for this photo taken and in public view. This special lady has worked very hard to achieve this medal.”

“Get that gold medal off your neck, you didn’t win that.”

On the other hand, plenty of other fans defended Owens, saying it exemplified his support for her and how much he loves her;

“It’s amusing to me how people don’t understand why Simone’s husband is holding and wearing her medal. That’s what family does. And friends, and anyone close to these athletes … It’s very normal and myself being Australian, that’s what the Australians do also. It’s not a weird thing it’s been happening forever …”

“We love a supportive husband.”

“Best part of marriage: SHARING THE HIGHS TOGETHER! Cheers to your wife.”

“They have been on a journey together to get to that gold medal since Tokyo! I watched the Netflix documentary that is out now! I saw a lot of Olympic Athletes putting their medals around their families necks because their families sacrifice a lot to help them get to this point in their career.”

“Your loving and supportive marriage brings joy to so many!”

“All these miserable people in the comments acting as if they really support Simone yet disrespecting her husband. Baby keep your support if you disrespecting me and mines. Just angry bitter folks with no life.”

“Y’all need to leave this man alone. He obviously loves this girl and Simone is clearly happy. You guys are just showing how miserable you are in the comments. Let people be happy.”

“Ok guys we are done with the slander. Jeeze. It’s enough. Let him celebrate his wife in peace.”

“Congrats to the beautiful wife! You two deserve this moment!”

Simone seemed thrilled with the fact that he came all the way there in the middle of training camp and cheered her on, commenting:

“Means the world you’re here.”

As well as:

“My whole heart. I love you.”

What can you really say? The internet is the internet…

Here are the photos, which I think are really cute and love seeing her in a seemingly happy marriage with someone who can be proud of her extremely impressive (to put it mildly) accomplishments: