The picture was easy. Simone Biles was in a hospital gown and cap, and medical bands could be seen on her wrist. Her husband Jonathan Owens was standing next to her. It said “His birthday, but he takes me to get my procedure.” It was July 22. The next day, she sent it out. It told you something without telling you much, like most of what Biles has said about her health in the last six weeks.
This is the second time since the middle of June that the most decorated gymnast in history has shown up in a medical setting but only gave the public pieces. June 15 was the first time Biles posted from what looked like a hospital bed. She said she had “almost died” and that it was one of the scariest times of her life. She said that she had to stay in bed. She said she’d explain once or twice. Owens was in Indianapolis being trained for the NFL at the time. From what she said, it sounded like she was mostly by herself when it happened.
Since then, she hasn’t said anything. The July procedure, including what it is, how it relates to the June event, and what it means, is still not clear. She has every right to do that. People have the right to medical privacy, which is also protected by the law. It’s hard to hold two things at once, though, as you watch this happen: respect for what she chose not to say and awareness of what she chose to say. You don’t say “almost dying” for no reason. In the picture from July, there was a red hospital band and what looked like a dressing over an IV site. These are not small details, even if we don’t know what they mean.
Biles is 29 years old. She came back to elite competition after pulling out of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and won four gold medals there in 2024. This was done in public, with an explanation, while the whole world was watching. There is a clear difference between that and now. She spoke in Tokyo. She has acknowledged the events since June but has not named them. This disclosure is different because it is in the present tense and is still going on.
She wasn’t invisible in the weeks between the scare in June and the surgery in July. She went to New York for the 2026 ESPY Awards and then to the Dominican Republic. Pics of her in public showed that she looked like she had been through something and was moving on. It’s harder to say if that impression was right. Gymnasts, maybe more than most athletes, are taught to look in charge even when things aren’t that simple.
The people she plays with in Paris have been in the news too. Suni Lee said she would be competing again in the middle of July. Hezly Rivera and Jade Carey are also coming back. The 29-year-old Katelyn Ohashi just recently returned to competition after a 13-year break. She did so at the American Classic. There are some changes going on in the world of gymnastics right now. Biles has said that she is still not sure if she will be on her fourth straight Olympic team in 2028. Given what she has said about her health, that question seems a bit far away right now.
Owens is a safety for the Indianapolis Colts, not the Chicago Bears as some earlier reports said. He has been a regular part of Biles’s public life since they got married in April 2023. The birthday message was warm and light, almost on purpose, given the time and place. Some people might have meant for that to happen. Biles might have also just wanted to record the moment without starting a bigger conversation she isn’t ready for yet.
She said she’d explain once or twice. It’s been six weeks, one procedure, and still no diagnosis. No matter what is going on, it is not over.
