Simone Biles took the world by storm in 2016, becoming a viral sensation at the Summer Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro. She picked up four gold medals and one bronze medal, endearing herself to all Americans.
During the closing ceremonies, Biles was chosen by Team USA to be the flag bearer, becoming the first-ever female gymnast to receive that honor. And when she returned home, she found herself on the cover of Sports Illustrated and in several national commercials.
Everyone knew who Simone Biles except for her now-husband, Jonathan Owens.
During a recent appearance on The Pivot podcast, Owens, sitting alongside Biles, claimed that when the two first linked up on a dating app, he was unaware of her career resume.
“I’m like, ‘Lemme see who this is.’ I never really paid attention to gymnastics, so it piqued my curiosity,” Owens said, via People.
“The first thing that I saw was that she just had a bunch of [Instagram] followers. So in my mind I’m like, ‘Okay, she’s gotta be good,'”
That’s an understatement.
Owens added that he was in training camp with Missouri Western at the time and he wasn’t focused on the Olympics, so he somehow missed her meteoric rise to fame. It also, apparently, eluded him for the next four years.
“When she won the Olympics, I was in college and we didn’t have NBC, we didn’t have Olympics channels, and we were in [training] camp [in] late July, early August,” he said. “So I’m not paying attention. I never would’ve had a moment where I would’ve watched [her compete].”
Owens also said he views himself as “the catch” in the relationship, which has since sparked some controversy, but the couple, who were married in April, have shrugged that off.
