Simone Biles Appears to Throw Shade at MyKayla Skinner’s ‘Work Ethic’ Remarks After Team USA’s Olympic Gold
“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions,” Biles wrote on Instagram hours after Team USA won gold in the women’s gymnastics team final at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Ulrik Pedersen/DeFodi Images via Getty; Jamie Squire/Getty
Simone Biles appeared to reference those controversial MyKayla Skinner comments after the U.S. gymnastics team’s big win at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
On Tuesday, July 30, Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera won gold for Team USA at the Games, and Biles — who now has eight Olympic medals — marked the occasion by sharing several photos of the squad celebrating on Instagram.
“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇🇺🇸,” Biles captioned the post, seemingly hitting back at 2020 Olympic vault silver medalist Skinner, who previously criticized the team, minus Biles, in a now-deleted YouTube video.
After the team heading to the Games was announced last month, Skinner, 27, said, “Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be.”
“Just notice like, I mean, obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic,” she added, per a clip from the video shared on X (formerly known as Twitter).
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She claimed at the time that the required abuse awareness training program SafeSport was one of the reasons why she felt the work ethic had changed, saying, “Coaches can’t get on athletes, and they have to be really careful what they say.”
A representative for Skinner did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Wednesday, July 31.
The former Olympian, who shared some red heart emojis on her Instagram Stories alongside a post about Team USA’s win on Tuesday, has since said her comments about the gymnasts were “misinterpreted.”
On her Instagram Stories on July 3, Skinner claimed that “a lot of the stuff” she talked about 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.”
Christina Pahnke – sampics/Getty
Skinner added, “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. And I’m not sticking up for Márta or saying what she did was good, I’m just saying it was different.”
She then apologized for her comments. “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.”
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In another statement, shared with PEOPLE through a representative, Skinner said, “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.
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“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,” Skinner went on.
The athlete 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!”
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, come to people.com to check out ongoing coverage before, during and after the games. And sign up for Going for Gold, our Olympics newsletter, to get the biggest stories from the Games delivered straight to your inbox. Watch the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, beginning July 26, on NBC and Peacock.
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