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As the world celebrated Simone Biles and the U.S women’s gymnastics team Paris Olympics win, the Olympic Gymnast and her team has another issue on their minds.
The win seemed to resurface a long-standing feud between Biles and her ex-team mate, MyKayla Skinner.
The once-private drama became one of public interest after Biles posted a pointed message on Instagram—and you can bet we started digging for an explanation.
Below, we breakdown the Simone Biles and MyKayla Skinner feud.
Who Is Simone Biles?
Simone Biles is not just an Olympic Gymnast but is considered to be one of the greatest Olympic gymnasts of all time.
At the Rio Olympics in 2016. Biles became the first female U.S. gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games. She’s also first gymnast to win six world titles, which she won in 2013–15, 2018–19, 2023, not to mention having introduced multiple moves into the sport, including the ‘Biles’ which was named after her because she’s the only person who’s been able to successfully complete it.
Biles, however, is not just a successful gymnast but a cultural icon.
In 2018, after a break from gymnastics, Biles revealed that she had been one of Larry Nassar’s, former doctor for the U.S. national gymnastics team convicted of sexual abuse, victims.
Biles has been open about her mental health and famously chose not to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.
Biles doesn’t adhere to the traditional gymnastics experience of the sport being your entire life, rather promoting having a healthy life outside of training and being a role model for athletes to prioritise their mental health.
Who Is MyKayla Skinner?
Mykayla Skinner is an American former artistic gymnast and Simone Bile’s former teammate.
She was the alternate for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Games and a silver medal winner at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Skinner has retired from gymnastics and these days, is active as an influencer on Instagram, where she shares parts of her life with her husband and little girl called Lottie.
What Happened Between Simone Biles And MyKayla Skinner?
The drama resurfaced after Biles posted a picture of herself with her teammates —Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera—after their Olympic win with a very pointed caption that read, “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions.”
The caption was a clear dig at her former teammate, Skinner, who made a series of disparaging comments about the team’s work ethic in a now-deleted Youtube video.
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be,” Skinner said.
“I mean, obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
The backlash from the team’s fans prompted Skinner try and take back her words, with the former gymnast taking to Instagram stories and writing “I feel like a lot of you guys had misinterpreted or misunderstood exactly what I was meaning or had said.”
Skinner explained that her words weren’t, “necessarily about the current team, because I love and support all the girls that made it and I’m so proud of them.”
She also posted a Instagram, where she formerly apologised for her words.
At the time, Biles took to Threads, where she wrote “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform.”
Now, since Bile’s pointed Instagram post, the drama seems to have resurfaced.
Not long after posting, Biles took to X to write ” “oop, I’ve been blocked.”
Skinner’s words however, must have cut deep for Biles, who has been called ‘weak’ by people like J.D Vance, Piers Morgan and Charlie Kirk for her decision to put herself first and break from the sport.
Gymnastics, like many sports, has historically placed a toxic level of pressure on athletes to perform—in 1996, Kerri Strug was celebrated for competing with a broken ankle at the Atlanta Olympics.
Biles however, has proved that she doesn’t have to destroy herself to win Gold and that putting herself first and taking a break isn’t “lazy” but actually an important part of achieving her Olympic dreams.
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