Simone Biles Blasts Ex-Teammate Skinner For Criticizing Gold Medal-Winning Team’s ‘Work Ethic’—The Controversy Explained
Simone Biles Blasts Ex-Teammate Skinner For Criticizing her…… the Controversy Explained
Simone Biles Blasts Ex-Teammate Skinner For Criticizing Gold Medal-Winning Team’s ‘Work Ethic’—The Controversy Explained
Simone Biles used a photo of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team proudly hoisting the American flag after winning Olympic gold Tuesday to push back against a former teammate, MyKayla Skinner, who drew controversy several weeks ago for questioning the “talent and the depth” and work ethic of this year’s team.
Hours after Team USA won the gold medal in women’s gymnastics, stand-out star Biles posted several group photos to Instagram with the caption “Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇🇺🇸.”
The caption seemed to be a direct clapback to Skinner, 27, who said in a now-deleted YouTube video weeks ago she didn’t feel this year’s team was up to snuff, adding, other than Biles, “obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard, the girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
At the time, Biles posted to Threads that “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform.”
Ahead of the games, Skinner posted a new video and said her comments weren’t “necessarily about the current team” and said she “loves and supports all of the girls who made it.”
Skinner also posted a photo to her Instagram story Tuesday of the U.S. women’s gymnastic team during the gold medal ceremony with three heart emojis above it.
Another former Olympic gymnast, 2012 Team USA member McKayla Maroney, also weighed in on the drama, commenting on Biles post with congratulations and saying she felt like she needed to apologize “just to redeem my first name.”
Suni Lee, a member of the U.S. team, commented “Put a finger down if Simone Biles just ended you.”
By Wednesday, Skinner appeared to have blocked Biles on Instagram.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t what it used to be,” Skinner said in her original video.
KEY BACKGROUND
Skinner was an alternate for the 2016 Olympic team in Brazil and was chosen as a for a non-nominative spot at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, meaning she could compete in individual competition but would not be part of the four-member U.S. team. She did not initially qualify for the finals in the individual all-around competition or on vault, but was moved up after Biles dropped out in the middle of the games for mental health reasons. Skinner ultimately won the silver medal in vault and retired from the sport later that year. Team USA won the silver medal without Biles, falling to Russia (which competed under the moniker ROC), for gold. The team lineup for the 2024 U.S. gymnastics was almost exactly the same as the team for the 2020 games with one exception—Jade Carey competed for the team this year in place of Grace McCallum (in Tokyo, Carey competed as an individual).
