Report: Bears grant Jonathan Owens leave from training camp to support wife Simone Biles at Olympics

When the Chicago Bears start their training camp later this month, they may be missing one of their veteran offseason additions. According to USA Today, safety Jonathan Owens is set to attend the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where his wife, Simone Biles, is scheduled to compete. The Bears have granted him a couple of days off from training camp to attend the Olympics to support Biles during her competitions. Biles mentioned that their schedules don’t align often, so it’s important for both of them to show up for each other whenever they can.

The Chicago Bears are set to open their training camp on July 23, just three days before the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Paris. Biles, a highly accomplished gymnast with seven career Olympic medals, has a qualifying event on July 28 with the U.S. women’s gymnastics team and a final on July 30. The all-around women’s final will take place on August 1. This year’s Olympic Games will be the first major international competition that Biles and Owens attend together, as family and friends were not allowed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Jonathan Owens, 28, recently signed with the Bears in the spring after a one-year stint with the Green Bay Packers. He was originally undrafted out of Missouri Western in 2018 and spent four seasons with the Houston Texans from 2019-2022, where he became a full-time starter and recorded a career-high 125 tackles in his final season. During his time in Green Bay, he was also a significant contributor on special teams.