Olympic gymnast Simone Biles verbally stuck the landing after hurling shade at former Olympian MyKayla Skinner for her previous criticism of the women's U.S. gymnastics team lacking "work ethic."
Skinner, a 2020 Olympic vault silver medalist, got flak last month for her judgy assessment of Team USA members Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera after they were officially selected to head to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
In her now-deleted YouTube video called "Olympic Trials Recap: USA Women's Gymnastics," Skinner made comments about the 2024 team's work ethic falling short of previous teams and attributed that to the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an organization created in the wake of the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal to reduce sexual abuse in Olympic sports.
"Besides Simone [Biles], I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't what it used to be," she said, adding:
"I just notice, you know obviously, a lot of the girls don't work as hard. The girls just don't have the work ethic."
Additional remarks from the deleted video, which was criticized by fans and gymnastics enthusiasts, included talking about Lee's body image and second-place finish at the 2024 Olympic trials. Skinner also repeatedly mispronounced Hezly Rivera's name.
Skinner's comments were preserved and shared in a clip posted on X (formerly Twitter), which you can see here.
At the time, Biles responded to Skinner's denigrating remarks and wrote on Threads:
" Not everyone needs a mic and a platform."
@simonbiles/Threads
Skinner's words would later come back to haunt her after Biles and her team won gold, making Biles the most decorated gymnast in history with eight Olympic and 30 World Championship medals.
The U.S. women's gymnastics team proved they are no joke, and if tested, well, you wouldn't want to find out the consequences.
Here's a video of the team revealing their imposing moniker at a press conference.
Fans found it fitting for these champs.
But the coup de grace would come later on social media in the form of a direct clapback at Skinner.
Following Team USA's victory, Biles posted a carousel of photos of her and her squad celebrating and proudly carrying the U.S. banner on Instagram.
She then wrote a caption using familiar key phrases, which read:
"Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions."
The dig, meant for Skinner, wasn't lost on social media users.
Many also guessed that Biles was just waiting for the right moment to co-opt Skinner's criticisms.
After Team USA took home the gold, Skinner shared red heart emojis celebrating their win and later claimed that her former comments regarding the gymnasts were "misinterpreted."
Skinner said on her Instagram story on July 3 that "a lot of the stuff" she discussed in the YouTube video "wasn't always necessarily about the current team, because I love and support all the girls that made it and I'm so proud of them."
She continued explaining:
"It was more about going back into my own gym, just the work ethic is different compared to when we were doing gymnastics in the [former team coordinator] Márta [Károlyi] era."
Károlyi was a controversial U.S. women's team coordinator, who with her husband Béla allegedly regularly beat gymnasts in training for mistakes or competition losses.
They also faced a sex abuse lawsuit in 2016 alleging she and her husband were cognizant of and "turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse".
"And I'm not sticking up for Márta or saying what she did was good, I'm just saying it was different," Skinner added.
Skinner then expressed regret for her "work ethic" comments, saying:
"So anyway, sorry for anything that got out of context or seemed hurtful. That is never my intention."
"And seriously, throughout the video, I was so pumped for the girls, and it was so fun watching trials and doing a live with everybody.”
In a separate statement to People magazine via her representative, Skinner stated:
"I want to formally apologize to Team USA and to our gymnastic community for my comments during my recent YouTube episodes of the gymnastics Olympic trials."
"It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work. Your hard work and dedication has paid off and I congratulate each and every one of you,
She continued:
"Upon reflection I was comparing the 'Marta Era' to the current era. I am coming to terms that I have not fully dealt with the emotional and verbal abuse I endured under Marta that perhaps led to my hurtful comments."
"I take full responsibility for what I said and I deeply apologize."
She added:
"It is most important to me that the sport I love continue down the path of healing and ensures a positive environment for all."
"I wish you all the very best in Paris. I will be cheering you all on! Go Team USA!”
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