Former US gymnast MyKayla Skinner apologizes for comments, Simone Biles fires back

Led by the legendary Simone Biles, the United States women’s gymnastics team won the gold medal in the team all-around competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was a win that reignited a social media spat with former US gymnast MyKayla Skinner.

Ahead of the Olympics, Skinner had been loudly critical of the 2024 team, including calling out the team’s work ethic. It’s something that Biles took notice of, and made sure to note in her Instagram caption celebrating the gold medal.

“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions,” Biles captioned her post.

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A post shared by Simone Biles (@simonebiles)

Skinner took a different approach and was celebratory on Instagram for the American team, posting a picture of the team on her Instagram story with heart emojis over it. Following backlash over her previous comments, Skinner also released a public apology for them.

“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,” Skinner wrote at the time. “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 everyone one of you.”

MyKayla Skinner and Simone Biles were Olympic teammates for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. There, Skinner won silver in the vault. Those were also the Olympics where Biles was forced to withdraw while battling the “Twisties.” Four of the five American gymnasts in 2024 were also on the 2020 team, with only 16-year-old Hezly Rivera being new to the team.

Skinner’s comments were initially posted to YouTube in a video that has since been deleted.

“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be,” Skinner controversially said. “The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”

At the time, Simone Biles was immediately critical of those comments and shot back at McKayla Skinner with: “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform.”

In the end, Simone Biles and her teammates — Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Hezly Rivera were able to bring home the gold. It also wasn’t a particularly close all around final, as the U.S. winning the gold with Biles and Chiles competing in every event. Carey had been dealing with illness while Lee overcame a kidney issue to make the team. That’s clearly not something they were able to do without working hard and being the most talented team in the world.