World enews: Simone Biles engaged to boyfriend Jonathan Owens

Simone Biles has announced she is engaged to her boyfriend Jonathan Owens.

The gymnast shared a post on Instagram on Tuesday, writing: “THE EASIEST YES. I can’t wait to spend forever & ever with you, you’re everything I dreamed of and more! let’s get married FIANCÉ”.

Mr Ownes got down on one knee on Valentine’s Day in a wooden bandstand at sunset and presented her with a huge diamond, with diamonds all around the band of the ring, designed by ZoFrost & Co.

The pair toasted their good news with glasses of champagne and uploaded plenty of pictures of their engagement to social media.

Commenting on the post, Mr Owens said: “Ready for forever with you.”

The pair met on the celebrity dating app Raya just before the pandemic, in March 2020.

“I saw that he was in the Houston area, so we started chatting a little bit, and then we went to hang out a week or two later,” Ms Biles told The Wall Street Journal. “He would say I slid into his DMs,” she said.

“We ended up hanging out right before the pandemic. It was one of the few times in her life where everything was just shut off and she couldn’t do anything,” Mr Owens told Texas Monthly. “So we used it to get to know each other – really get to know each other. It created our bond and made it stronger. Now I’m so thankful.”

Jonathan Owens, 26, from St. Louis, Missouri is a safety for the Houston Texans American football team, and a former player for the Arizona Cardinals. Mr Owens played for the team until a knee injury forced him out of the game and the team released him in 2019.

The Olympic gymnast, 24, from Columbus, Ohio, is the most decorated gymnast in history. “I didn’t know who she was,” Mr Owens said. “I just hadn’t heard of her, and when I told her that, that’s one of the things she liked.”

Mr Owens remembered witnessing the impact she had on people for the first time. “We were walking past this group of girls, and they were shaking, ‘Oh my god, it’s Simone!’ This is when I kind of knew. Like, okay, yeah, she’s the real deal,” he said. On her work ethic, he commented: “it’s just intoxicating seeing how much work she puts into everything”.

Speaking to host Hoda Kotb on the Today show, Ms Biles revealed how easy it was to fall in love with Owens. “Our personalities match right up. We have the same sense of humour. And he’s just great. He’s an athlete, too, so we really understand each other and I think that’s why our relationship has been seamless”.