World record pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis’ girlfriend did not receive the same backlash as Simone Biles’ husband while in Paris for the Olympics. They both wore their respective partner’s gold medal for a photo or video on social media but the reactions from the public were very different.
One received praise while the other received hate!
Biles won three golds and a silver in France. The United States won a gold as a team and its star gymnast won gold in the all-around and vault, with silver on the floor.
Not long after Team USA claimed its spot atop the podium, Biles met Jonathan Owens at a bar/restaurant to celebrate the win. She placed the gold medal around his neck. He wore it for a photo on Instagram.
A large group of people were absolutely furious and commented with their frustrations. They didn’t understand why Owens was wearing the medal like he won. They thought he was stealing his wife’s valor.
Simone Biles fired back at the outrage and put the haters in their place while begging to be left alone.
Approximately one week later, Duplantis won gold with a world record pole vault and partied until the early hours of the next morning with his Swedish model girlfriend, Desire Inglander. She posted a video on TikTok in which her boyfriend put his medal around her neck.
Perhaps people learned from the initial “controversy” with Biles because the reaction to Inglander’s video was much more positive than the reaction to the NFL defensive back’s photo. TikTok even commented to say that “u won girl” — which is a complete 180º from the people who wondered why Owens was wearing his wife’s medal when he didn’t even compete.
Why did people approach Inglander’s behavior at the Olympics differently than Owens? Who knows. Regardless of the reason, Mondo Duplantis’ girlfriend was treated much nicer than Jonathan Owens.