Simone Biles and her husband Jonathan Owens are a powerhouse sports duo, but the competitiveness that comes with being athletes often spills over into their relationship. In one such incident two years ago, Biles challenged her then-boyfriend to a rope-climbing race.
The gymnast started dating Owens in March 2020. The pair went public two months later and has since given fans plenty of insight into their relationship.
In June of 2021, when Simone Biles was preparing to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, she released a Facebook Watch special called “Simone vs Herself.” It gave fans a look into the American’s life on and off the mat.
In the third episode of the seven-part series, Biles challenged her boyfriend to see who could climb the rope the fastest. In the clip, the two can be heard deciding the stakes for the race, eventually settling on the loser paying the winner $50.
As the race begins, Owens starts out in the lead, but the gymnast quickly catches up to him and reaches the top in just 10 seconds, with her husband still a few feet away from her.
The clip shows the NFL player defending his loss, saying: “Well, I was in about 3/4 of the way through, and then I just burned out.” Biles laughed in response.
Here is a video of the battle between the two:
Simone Biles talks about who is the better athlete between her and Jonathan Owens
Simone Biles believes she is the better athlete of the two. The Olympic gold medalist was recently invited to Back to that year Podcast hosted by Kenan Thompson and Kevin Hart. The 26-year-old was asked who is the better athlete between her and her husband, Jonathan Owens.
“I think we’re good at our sports. We tried to pin each other on difficulty and ability and all that stuff. So, at the end of the day, gymnastics is harder — whether he agrees or not.”
Simone Biles added that she was the better athlete of the two, given that Owens was barely able to keep up with her workouts while she was training for the NFL.
“We fought about it a few times, and then we swore, once we got married, that we would never talk about it again. But it keeps coming up every time, but he did my workouts at the gym and he could barely do it.” That, and then I went to their NFL practice and beat him.