Simone Biles and husband Jonathan Owens are one step closer to finishing their dream home!
In a series of photos posted to Biles’ Instagram Story on Monday, the olympic gymnast gave her followers an update on the construction of her new Texas home that she’ll share with her husband.
The first snap revealed the unfinished exterior of her abode that was still covered in plaster and surrounded by leveled dirt. “Tiles are in,” she captioned the photo.
Biles was excited to share that the “frames for the sliding doors are in,” in a snap that unveiled more of the bare wooden beams in the interior space.
Another image revealed a clear shot of Biles’ “favorite view” that she’ll be able to enjoy with Owens once their home is complete. The house appears to sit directly beside a body of water and is surrounded by lush greenery.
Continuing the tour, the newlywed wrote, “Can’t decide if this is the hallway of my dreams or the ones that are in my nightmares lmao,” beside a photo that showed a door frame and high ceilings starting to take shape.
The gymnast, 26, and Green Bay Packers player, 28, first teased they were building a house together in September when Biles posted a carousel of photos captioned, “Loading… 🏠🤍🛠.”
The post included a photo of the pair holding hands at the construction site along with a shot of Owens walking through the empty hallways of his soon-to-be pad.
Biles and Owens legally married at the 1910 Harris County Courthouse in Houston in April, just one month before tying the knot again in an elaborate ceremony in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
The destination wedding was attended by 140 guests and Biles donned four different dresses throughout her big day.
In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE ahead of the wedding, Biles revealed she was “actually very surprised” when Owens proposed to her in Feb. 2022, explaining, “I didn’t know it was coming. He’s very good at secrets.”
“I started shaking really bad because then I was like, ‘Wait, hold up. What if he proposes?’ But I didn’t want to get my hopes up … and then he did it,” she continued. “And I was just like, I kind of had a feeling, but I wasn’t sure.”
TV personality Kelly Clarkson recently praised Simone Biles for her beautiful gymnastics talent after the conclusion of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023. The 41-year-old expressed her love for Biles’s gymnastics talent that Clarkson said she would never be able to match up toRecently, Simone Biles made history by representing the United States in the world championship in Antwerp, Belgium. The four-time Olympic gold medallist won four gold medals in the team, all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise.
Besides, she also won a silver medal in the vault event. With her performance at this year’s world stage, the legendary gymnast inspired the world because it was her first major international event after she returned from her two-year mental health break.
Among the many that Biles inspired, there is also ‘Breakaway’ singer Kelly Clarkson. Right after fans saw the 26-year-old’s brilliance on the world stage, she began to receive loads of congratulatory messages. Clarkson also took to her Instagram to write an appreciation post for the gymnast.
Sharing a proudful picture of Biles with her gold medal at the world championships, the American songwriter and singer wrote on Instagram:
“Look, I would settle for the ability to do a kart wheel like @simonebiles 👀 She is magnificent!! My gosh, I feel blessed to just get to watch her!”
Previously, Simone Biles and Kelly Clarkson interacted virtually on a video call in 2021 when she and her fellow gymnast Jordan Chiles appeared on the singer’s The Kelly Clarkson Show. That year, the gymnasts were on the Gold Over America Tour and they shared how much the gymnast loved dancing to Clarkson’s music.
Besides achieving medals, the 2023 world championships were special for Simone Biles for many other reasons. By competing in Antwerp, she completed a circle of 10 years of her world-stage career that began in the Belgium city in 2013.
Moreover, Biles got another skill named after her as she attempted the Yurchenko double pike vault, a skill mostly performed by men. She gracefully displayed the move at the all-around event and got it named after her as Biles II.
Expressing her gratitude for her world championship experience, she wrote in her Instagram post:
“world championships!!!!! whew, Antwerp will always hold a special place in my heart. The first time I got a skill named after me was in this arena & 10 years later I got my 5th skill named…”She also added:
“I’m speechless. I’m honored. I’m excited and I’m blessed! doing it for the little girl who fell in love with the sport!!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the love & support 🖤”
Simone Biles is well aware of her successful World Championships campaign in Antwerp, an effort that saw her claim four gold medals across four different disciplines.
The American artistic gymnast is regarded by many as the greatest of all-time and as she targets a spot on the USA’s roster for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, she made a strong stake for her claim.
She took the top prize across in the teams category, all-around, balance beam and the floor exercise to take her 23rd gold at the Worlds and her 39th senior career medal.
“World championships!!!!!,” Biles wrote on Instagram. “Whew Antwerp will always hold a special place in my heart. The first time I got a skill named after me was in this arena & 10 years later I got my 5th skill named.
“I’m speechless. I’m honored. I’m excited and I’m blessed.
“Doing it for the little girl who fell in love with the sport!!!!!”
Biles’ Antwerp success
The American qualified in first place at the all-around final, scoring 58.932, just shy of two points clear of her teammate Shilese Jones.
She would, in fact, qualify first for every event with the exception of the uneven bars as she demonstrated her high standards of quality. In the process, she became the only gymnast to qualify for all of the finals of the individual events at the 2023 Worlds.
At the all-around, Biles executed each of her routines to win gold, except a slight stumble on her floor exercises, and she helped USA claim a seventh consecutive team medal.
The 26-year-old fell at the Yurchenko double pike but went on to win silver in the vault with a score of 14.549, just 0.201 behind the winning athlete, Rebeca Andrade.
She narrowly edged out Zhou Yaqin by a tenth in the balance beam final, showing that she was capable of handling the heat when it was brought to her.
Her psychological hard work paid off in 2013, when she won the first of three consecutive world medals in the individual all-around: Antwerp 2013, Nanning 2014, and Glasgow 2015.
“At the Rio Games, she won four Olympic golds and one bronze medal,”Andrews recalled, although he admitted there could have been five golds if not for an ill-timed slip on the balance beam.
Biles’ success also deeply impacted the specialist’s career: “I had to hire four people in my practice due to the work overload that arrived in 2016.”
One of the keys to success in treating the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic champion was helping her “take her foot off the accelerator or, in other words, not use so much energy,”Andrews explained.
He detailed that a couple of years ago, she was struggling to master a new skill for her routines, so he texted her: “Remember the concept of taking your foot off the gas.”
He highlighted the courage she displayed to pause her career in 2016 to care for her mental health despite the barrage of criticism. “I think the best example is that she retired and not only made that decision for her mental health but also her physical health.”
“What Simone did was defend herself mentally, physically, and emotionally,” said Andrews, and he also highlighted that the athlete’s example“gave many athletes permission to ask for help.”
Simone Biles, at only 26, is one of the greatest athletes in American history. We’ve already known that for a while. Now she’s the most decorated gymnast ever, after winning the all-around title at the Gymnastics World Championships. This is her sixth all-around title. It’s her 27th world champion medal, and if you include her Olympic medals, she has 34 in all. That’s more than any other gymnast in history! When she was on the podium at the championships with her gold medal, and they played the national anthem, Simone started to cry. It made me tear up, too. We know she went through so much and endured challenging setbacks to get to this moment.
She’s the most decorated gymnast ever. She’s also the first female gymnast to win six all-around world titles.
Biles added those accolades to her extensive legacy when she won the all-around title at the 2023 Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium on Friday. Her latest victory came 10 years after she claimed her first world championship win in the same city at 16 years old.
That kind of longevity is hard to come by in the sport, and the 26-year-old is making it look easy.
This is her 27th world championship medal and 21st gold. Combined with her seven Olympic medals, Biles has a tally of 34. No male or female competitor has seen that much hardware over the sport’s two premier events.
She was previously tied with Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo for the record with 33.
A regular at the podium, she fought tears as she stood with her fellow competitors while the national anthem played.
Biles’ total score across the balance beam, floor, vault and uneven bars was 58.399 points. With that number, she beat Brazilian defending champion Rebeca Andrade by 1.633 points. Her U.S. teammate Shilese Jones snagged the bronze medal with 56.332 points.
She’s just remarkable. Watching her floor routine is completely exhilarating, even though she makes one small mistake, it doesn’t even matter because the rest is executed so flawlessly. I will always be awed by the fact that she manages to get so high in the air. This triumph comes after Simone took an extended break from gymnastics for nearly two years. The 2021 Tokyo Olympics were hard on her because of the media pressure, but to make matters worse she got the “twisties,” which is the gymnastics version of the yips, where a gymnast loses their muscle memory in the air. She withdrew from competition because that kind of muscle memory loss is super dangerous. I’m so glad she was able to work through that and regain her confidence. I bet she sweeps the Paris Olympics next year and takes home all the gold medals.
American gymnast won four golds at the world championships after a two-year absence and, more importantly, is enjoying her sport again
In the aftermath of an astounding comeback in which she won four gold medals and a silver after a two-year international absence, Simone Biles had every reason to celebrate her renewed dominance and a historic performance that marked her as the most decorated gymnast of all time.
Instead, as she faced up to the press on Sunday evening at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Biles was firm. She did not care about the medals.
“I had to prove to myself that I could still get out here, twist,” she said. “I could prove all the haters wrong, that I’m not a quitter, this, that and the other. For me, I didn’t care. As long as I’m out there twisting again and finding the joy for gymnastics again, who cares?”
Two years ago, when she was forced to withdraw from the Olympics after suffering from the “twisties”, completely losing her air awareness, Biles retreated from the sport. Even this year, she was unsure that she would return to gymnastics. As she worked hard to address her deteriorated mental health, she embraced therapy, focusing on living in the moment rather than looking ahead. She has learned how to sometimes say “no”.
The joy that Biles was able to compete with throughout the event was her biggest triumph of all. By advocating for herself and having the clarity to prioritise her mental and physical health during one of the most important moments of her career, Biles has likely prolonged her career. Her decisions over the last two years will have a greater lasting impact both within and beyond her sport than any peerless new skill.
Such was Biles’s determination to remain in the moment and not look ahead, she has been hesitant to even mention the Paris Olympics since she returned to competition. Still, the obvious consequence of the results in Antwerp is that Biles has re-established herself as the dominant force in the sport right as Paris approaches.
But she is not the only star. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade shared all five podiums with Biles in Antwerp, and it was thrilling to see the 24-year-old push the best gymnast in the world with the promise that there is more to come. Biles genuinely seemed to enjoy the presence of a worthy rival. While they competed fiercely, both athletes were gracious and thoughtful throughout. After the event, Biles and Andrade danced at the post-event gala.
Older gymnasts will continue to dominate the pre-Paris narratives. Gabby Douglas, the 2012 Olympic all-around champion, announced in July that she is back in training and planning to return in 2024 having not competed since the Rio Olympics. The relentless criticism and abuse from both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games also had a destructive effect on Douglas’s mental health, leading to a far longer retreat from the sport.
Eight years is a long time between competitions, but Douglas is only a year older than Biles and the 27-year-old is so talented that it will be taken seriously. Sunisa Lee, the all-around champion in Tokyo, will also attempt to return to a second Olympics after serious kidney issues this year.
After such incredible performances in Tokyo and then last year in Liverpool, Antwerp proved to be a disappointing outing for British gymnasts until Jake Jarman produced an incredible vaulting performance on the final day. Jarman has been capable of astonishingly difficult skills for a long time yet things are coming together. The 21-year-old is now armed with the confidence of being a world champion and he continues to improve as an all-around gymnast.
Despite his fall in the pommel horse final, Max Whitlock’s performances in Antwerp made it clear that he will be in the fight as he attempts to defend his Olympic gold-medal on the pommel horse for a third time. The contest for gold with the clean, elegant Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland, now a two-time world champion, will be one of the highlights of the event.
Meanwhile, Alice Kinsella performed admirably to finish seventh in the women’s all-around final after learning of Jessica Gadirova’s injury withdrawal just minutes before the final was to begin and the women will be competing for another team medal in Paris. Antwerp did, however, underline that Gadirova remains their only consistent individual medal threat. Considering she qualified third in the all-around and for four of the five individual finals, she is a damn good one.
If women’s gymnastics continues to trend towards older, longer careers, men’s gymnastics is the youngest it has been in years. Daiki Hashimoto continued his dominance by consolidating his status as the first teenage men’s Olympic all-around champion by winning his second world title at 23. However, last year’s champion, 23-year-old Zhang Boheng, opted not to compete in Antwerp. Instead, he won the Asian Games just over a week earlier, scoring more than three points higher than Hashimoto. Their battle in Paris will be enormous.
Innovation and pushing the boundaries are at the heart of gymnastics. The Yurchenko Double Pike Vault, made famous by the legendary Simone Biles, is one such feat. Yurchenko, known as round-off entry vaults, has revolutionized the sport. Natalia Yurchenko, in 1982, introduced the world to these vaults, which are a fusion of power, precision, and innovation. The Yurchenko family of vaults hinges on a round-off onto the springboard, followed by a back handspring onto the vaulting table.
This innovative approach allowed gymnasts to introduce various variations, elevating the difficulty and thus their D-scores. These vaults have now become a staple in gymnastics. Among them is the Yurchenko Double Pike Vault, a challenge so daunting that it stands out. The difficulty is considered to be the highest in the category, and it consists of two flips performed in the pike position. In this pike position, the gymnast extends their legs straight while folding their bodies at the waist. Previously only performed by men, this challenging move reached new heights in the sport of gymnastics and gained popularity thanks to the incredible Simone Biles.
In 2019, Simone Biles, the seven-time Olympic medallist, had already left the gymnastics world in awe with her triple-double on the floor and double-twisting double backflip beam dismount, both elements bearing her name. However, in 2021, she raised the bar further and made history in gymnastics by becoming the first woman to execute the Yurchenko double pike vault flawlessly in a competitive arena.
Biles, remembering the focus it took, said she reminded herself, “Do it like training. Don’t try to overdo anything.” Astoundingly, she flawlessly executed the Yurchenko double-pike vault and successfully defended her all-around title with a score of 58.400.
Biles’ latest YDP controversy
Biles’ YDP’s unrivaled difficulty score astounded the gymnastics community in 2021. While some judges at the GK US Classic gave it a provisional value of 6.6, others, like former gymnast and International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) judge Emily Chan, thought it might increase to 6.8. Biles, along with US women’s national team coordinator Tom Forster, criticized the D-score given as too low. The FIG argued that they assign values considering risk, safety, and technical direction. Yet Biles continued to face valuation challenges.
Fast forward to 2023. With changes in the international points system for this cycle, the Yurchenko double pike’s value was expected to decrease to around 6.2, and many argued that Simone Biles should be judged for her achievements, not limited by what others can’t do before the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships. In San Jose, Biles’ coach, Laurent Landi, expressed frustration with the International Gymnastics Federation’s reluctance to recognize Biles’ skills properly.
He emphasized the need to let athletes shine through their strengths and urged, “Reward them; don’t just penalize them.” Nonetheless, USA Gymnastics deemed it worthy of 6.4 for domestic competitions. It’s important to note that the FIG was not bound by this evaluation.
At the Xfinity Championships, Biles, after her YDP received a difficulty score of 6.4 and an execution score of 9.800, with an ND score of -0.5 as her coach was on the podium due to safety precautions. Then, following this event, at the 2023 Worlds and Pan Am Games Selection Camp in Katy, Texas, following her YDP, she received a difficulty score of 6.4 and an 8.650 for execution, totaling her vault score of 14.550.
When Biles and her team approached the FIG for the Yurchenko double pike’s valuation ahead of the world championships, they were prepared for potential disappointment. But this time, they were pleasantly shocked by the 6.4 score. Now Biles is poised to rewrite the gymnastics record books once again. If she becomes the first woman to perform the Yurchenko double pike vault at the upcoming World Gymnastics Championships, she’ll earn the highest start value ever seen in the event. An official from the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) recently confirmed that the vault has been assigned a difficulty score of 6.4 points, which is four-tenths higher than any other vault.
Events where Biles has performed YDP
In 2021, Biles became the first woman to execute the Yurchenko double pike (YDP) vault in competition. She did so at the GK US Classic. Biles, the defending world champion at the time, executed the move with grace, even though she added a couple of hops upon landing. With a 58.400, she won the all-around scores of the night.
The next time she performed the YDP was in 2023, after a staunch comeback from a 2-year break since the Tokyo Olympics. Biles astounded the world once again at the US Core Hydration Classic. Her signature move, the Yurchenko double pike, was the highlight of the event. The crowd went wild as she nailed her performance on the YDP vault, securing her all-around title at the event with a score of 59.100 in AA.
