While Jonathan Owens has since become Simone Biles‘ biggest supporter, the athlete recently shared he had no idea who she was until they had matched on a popular dating app.
In an interview on The Pivot Podcast, the 28-year-old got candid about his relationship with Biles as he recalled matching with her on Raya. Influencers and celebrities predominantly use the app’s exclusive dating platform, which requires users to be of a certain status to join.
Not to mention Raya has a strict vetting process which only adds to its reputation and appeal.
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Owens decided to sign up for the app in the hopes of finding love — or maybe just to pass the time during quarantine. Whatever his reasons were for wanting to join, it wasn’t long before he came across Biles’ profile.
Despite her impressive accolades and popularity by that point, Owens stated that he didn’t know anything about her other than that she was a gymnast, which he learned from her profile’s description.
“I never really paid attention to gymnastics, so it piqued my curiosity, so I said, I’ll see what’s up,” he shared. “I swiped her, and it said we matched.”
Owens said he finished up his workout before returning to his phone to find “a couple of likes” from a certain someone on his Instagram photos. To his surprise, it was from none other than Ms. Biles.
That’s when he took notice of the “bunch of followers” on her profile, which instantly led him to believe she had to be good at her profession.
Considering how she played a huge part in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil — scooping up four gold medals – it’s surprising that Owens wouldn’t have known who Biles was. Even hosts Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor were left in disbelief about the revelation.
Not to mention that when Biles first started dating the athlete, she was already on her way to becoming the most decorated gymnast in history – a feat she accomplished back in October.
But the Missouri native said that while Biles was doing her big one at the major tournaments, he was busy focusing on college and football. This consequently left him with little time to catch up on sports channels, let alone have the time to watch TV.
During the interview, Jonathan Owens also disclosed that he recognized Biles as the one he wanted to settle down with shortly after they started dating.
Asked whether he believes he is the “catch” in his relationship with Biles, Owens said, “I always say that the men are the catch,” and that he “was fighting” against his natural feeling of being “afraid to commit” at that point in his life.
“I’m like, ‘It’s kinda early.’ But you know, it happens when you least expect it. When we hung out, we just hit it off instantly. Laughed the whole night,” he said.
The pair tied the knot in April as they headed to a courthouse in Houston to exchange their vows. But it wouldn’t be until May when Owens and Simone Biles would throw their second wedding bash in front of over 100 guests at a lavish ceremony held in Mexico.