Simone Biles' husband Jonathan Owens under fire for wearing her Olympics gold medal, she slams the critics

Today.com Sports News Aug - 23 - 2024 , 13:44 4 minutes read

Simone Biles' husband, Jonathan Owen continues to suffer backlash on social media since July 31, for wearing one of the gymnasts' gold medals from the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Owens' crime was sharing an Instagram post featuring him alongside his wife on July 31. The celebratory post included a caption from Owens congratulating his wife on becoming Olympics' most decorated American gymnast.

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The photo showed Owens wearing her Olympic gold medal around his neck, prompting accusations that the NFL athlete was stealing the spotlight from his wife.

“Witnessing history every time you step on the mat,” his caption reads. “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.”

In the post’s comments section, users were quick to cheer on Biles for her win, while others took issue with Owens for wearing the gold medal that the gymnast and her team had won earlier that day around his neck.

“Why he holding it like he won it,” one user wrote.

“Mr. Simone Biles, if you don’t give that woman back her medal like (be for real),” one added.

The criticism against Owens continued on TikTok. In a post that has since received nearly 500K comments, internet personality Kiera Breaugh also chimed into the discourse.

“Take her medal off!” Breaugh says in the video. “After all of the— take her medal off! Was it you, Mr. Simone Biles, who was flying through the air yesterday? Was it you who spun like a top 30 times in the air and landed without stumbling? No.”

“You were taking notes in the audience, and I thought that was cute. I was gonna give him a pass,” she said, referring to how cameras captured Owens taking detailed notes of his wife’s score and performance throughout the Olympic competitions, showing his support and dedication. “I thought him keeping score the audience was kind of cute. I was gonna take it easy on him.”

“Why is her medal around your neck? For the picture. For the picture that you post after— We’ve learned nothing. What a choice. What a choice,” she continued.

“Let her wear the medal for the picture that you post,” Breaugh concluded. “After everything that’s gone on, that could be a pretty simple PR move. He’s like, ‘This is my only time to wear a gold medal around my neck, so I guess I’ll just take this chance now. Not like I already got made fun of by the entire internet for trying to overshadow my wife and undermine her accomplishments.”

What did Simone Biles say in response to the Jonathan Owens medal controversy?

On Aug. 1, Biles replied in the comments of Breaugh’s post to defend her husband.

She flipped the script on critics criticizing her husband for sharing a photo of himself wearing one of her gold medals.

The 27-year-old gymnast is taking on social media critics who lambasted a post shared by her husband on Instagram.

“Crazy thing is, I put my medal on every single one of my family members and took pictures. So don’t ever make assumptions, “she wrote. “Like y’all are so f----ing miserable. Leave us alone.”

The Olympian’s rebuke was enough to inspire Breaugh to comment on the conflict, emphasizing how Biles’ words had humbled her.

“I’m honored. I’m honored to be told to f--- off by such a talented woman,” Breaugh said in a response on TikTok. “I can’t really be mad if she told him to, you know what I mean. And maybe he is really taking notes and keeping score, which is cute. That’s more than anyone’s ever done for me.”

“And you know what? Maybe I am miserable. I’ll be called miserable by the most decorated gymnast of all time,” she replied. “I don’t really care. I think that’s fine. I think, in comparison, naturally, I am not just miserable but also lazy, untalented, and all the other things in the caption. I am undeniably that in comparison. So I don’t mind this at all. I don’t mind this at all.”

“But, um, good to know. Good. Good information to know. I think that, given the history of it, naturally, a lot of us saw that and were a little bit like, oh, jerked out of the seat,” she concluded. “False alarm.”

Source: Today.com