Simone Biles Opens Up About the Origin of Her and Jonathan Owens’ Pregame Handshake

When you see Olympic gymnast Simone Biles strolling onto an Indianapolis Colts sideline, sharing a quick, practiced clasp of hands with safety Jonathan Owens, it looks effortless – a little love‑note before the whistle. But the gesture almost became a painful memory.

In a candid chat with ON SI about her partnership with skincare brand Arcutis, Biles revealed that the handshake was born roughly three seasons ago, as a joint “good‑luck” thing they cooked up together. “We came up with it together,” she said, smiling. “It’s just a little ritual that feels special for both of us.”

The snag? Owens always runs onto the field wearing his gloves – the kind that help him grip the ball and tackle opponents. Those gloves are tacky, and when Owens lunged over to Biles in his gloves, the stickiness twisted her fingers and even snapped a couple of nails. “It hurt like crazy,” Biles laughed, recalling the moment she had to ask him to stop.

After a brief pause, the couple made a simple adjustment: Owens leaves his gloves off for the handshake. “Now he makes sure he’s not wearing them, and we can do it again,” Biles explained. The change was small, but it restored the ritual without the nail‑breaking side effect.

Both admit they could mess it up – Biles thinks she’d be the one to fumble the sequence. “I’d probably be the one to mess it up,” she confessed, chuckling at the thought of a clumsy high‑five on live TV.

The handshake has appeared at several games, from preseason match‑ups against the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions to regular‑season clashes with the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. Most recently, the pair shared the moment on foreign soil, at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during the Colts’ game against the Washington Commanders.

As the Colts gear up to travel to Pittsburgh this week, the duo is once again set to lock fingers on the sideline – glove‑free, nail‑intact, and full of the same quiet excitement that started it all.