The uncontested G.O.A.T. of American women's gymnastics, Simone Biles, has seemingly responded to an unsavory remark made by a former Team USA teammate of hers.
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be,” her former teammate, MyKayla Skinner said in a YouTube video posted after the team selection. Skinner, who earned a silver medal on the vault at the Tokyo Olympics, said in the since-deleted video. “A lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
Biles seemed to clap back at the time with a post shared to social platform Threads, writing, "Not everyone needs a mic and a platform."
Following the women's all-around gold medal victory at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, Biles took to her Instagram account to share images of the squad — including herself, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — celebrating their win, which earned Biles' her eighth gold medal and the title of most-decorated American Olympics gymnast of all time. "Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions," Biles captioned her post, an ostensible reference to comments made by Skinner.
While Skinner initially defended her remarks, she later apologized in a statement shared to X/Twitter after receiving an adverse public response. “It was not my intention to offend of disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work,” she wrote. “I take full responsibility for what I said and I deeply apologize.”
The latest development in the simmering tension between the two athletes came on Wednesday, when Biles claimed that Skinner had blocked her Instagram account. "Oop I’ve been blocked," Biles tweeted, along with several emojis. Chiles separately posted an image on her Instagram story of someone holding what appears to be Biles phone clicked into Skinner's account, which is inaccessible. "When she blocks Simone," Chiles captioned the post.
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