Jonathan Owens seems to have gotten the full taste and experience of the 2024 Paris Olympics — including some inside pin trading.
Thanks to the Chicago Bears granting him some time away from training camp, Owens was able to watch his wife, decorated women’s gymnast Simone Biles, win several Olympic medals, including helping the USA women’s gymnastics team return to gold in the team-all-around event.
And while the first-year Bears safety was able to take in the excitement and history of Biles becoming of the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast (both men or women), Biles told TODAY’s Hoda Kotb Tuesday morning that he was just as excited to pin trade at the Paris Games.
‘He was so excited. He was more excited to pin trade,’ Biles said. ‘He was loving to pin trade. I didn’t think he would but I did warn him that pin trading was really huge. So he absolutely loved that.
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‘Obviously he loved going to see me compete (and) he was still keeping score. For him, it meant the world to him because he has seen the amount of hours that I have put in. So to actually see in person he was like, ‘Wow this is amazing,’ and he was so excited to be there.’
Biles discusses pin trading in the below clip at the 4:20 mark.
To use the words of Ilona Maher of the United States women’s rugby team, pin trading at the Olympics is a ‘serious business’ and tradition at the Olympics. At the start of the Olympic Games, countries and delegations provide their athletes with customized pins — either designed to represent their country or specific team — that they can trade with athletes from other countries or fans or anyone else at the Olympics.
“One thing about the Olympic Village is, trading pins is serious business,” Maher said in a TikTok video prior to the opening ceremony where she is seen acquiring a clog pin from the Netherlands. “We don’t mess around trading pins, OK?”
Biles even has her own customized pin, which to no surprise is a hot ticket item for athletes — like Maher — to get while in Paris. The pin is a gold-shaped heart that has her signature engraved into it with a small drawn heart. Snoop Dogg, who has become quite the fan favorite on NBC’s coverage, has his own pin as well.
Maher’s teammate, Sammy Sullivan, traded one of her Olympic pins to a local tattoo artist in Paris for a free customized Paris Games tattoo that featured the Olympic bronze medal that the women’s rugby team won and the Eiffel Tower.
Owens has since returned to the United States to rejoin the Bears at training camp, where he is preparing for his first season with the NFC North team. He finished with 76 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery returned for a touchdown last season with the Green Bay Packers.