Jonathan Owens couldn’t be prouder of his wife, Simone Biles, after the USA gymnast battled through injury in the Olympics and earned a gold medal in the process.
During the women’s qualification on July 28, Biles suffered a calf injury while warming up for the floor exercise routine. She was coming off a flawless performance on the balance beam where she scored 14.733, so a lot of eyes were on her as she was preparing for the second event.
But the anticipation turned to fears after Biles complained about something in her left leg. She had to exit the floor with team doctor, Dr. Marcia Faustin, although she quickly returned with a tape wrapped around her leg.
Despite the injury, Biles didn’t withdraw and continued to perform. She finished the remaining three routines (floor exercise, vault and uneven bars), even impressing everyone when she pulled off the most difficult women’s gymnastic move–the Yurchenko double pike–on the vault.
Even better, Biles topped the all-around leaderboard after the women’s qualification, tallying an overall score of 59.566. Her USA teammate, Sunisa Lee, finished behind her with 56.132.
Amid her achievement, Owens looked back at the setback that Biles suffered and reflected on how incredible it is. On his Instagram Stories, the Chicago Bears safety posted a photo of Biles sitting and looking down while her leg was taped up.
Owens captioned the photo with “Warrior,” highlighting how courageous it was for Biles to keep performing even with a hurt leg.
Owens wasn’t in Paris yet when Biles picked up the injury, as the NFL veteran only flew to France last July 29–which was the start of his time off from the Bears’ training camp. Having said that, he had to watch his wife in the middle of the night as she fought for her dreams on an injured leg.
Indeed, what Biles just did is the definition of a “Warrior,” and she couldn’t be a bigger inspiration to many.
Biles still has the individual Olympic events to participate in, and all eyes are on her as she attempts to bring home more gold.
