Simone Biles led the USA to gold in the women’s team event in Paris last night and she used her celebratory Instagram picture to take aim at a former team mate.
MyKayla Skinner, who was a reserve in Rio and competed as an individual in Tokyo after not making the US team, criticized the current US team in a since-deleted YouTube post earlier this year.
Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be.
A lot of girls don't work as hard, the girls just don't have the work ethic.
The greatest gymnast of her generation didn’t let it pass in Paris
Posting the caption under the picture with teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera:
lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions
Skinner has since apologised and claimed her words were taken out of context. In the video she had suggested that SafeSport – the organisation set up to protect young American athletes in the wake of a host of scandals involving coaches – had perhaps played a part in the change in gymnasts’ training regimes.
Coaches can’t get on athletes which in some ways is really good but at the same time, to get to where you need to be in gymnastics you do have to be … a little aggressive, a little intense.
Biles revealed in 2018 that she had been a victim of the disgraced former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar was sentenced to a “minimum of 40 years to a maximum of 125 years” for his crimes while working as team doctor of the US women’s gymnastics team.
Biles's former teammate McKayla Maroney, meanwhile, commented on Biles's post and apologised to Biles on behalf of all McKayla's and Mykayla's.
OH MY GOD MCKAYLA 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/1ZJHXEAmAY
— jade (@mccuskerights) July 31, 2024
Biles and her American team mates will be back in action in Paris in individual events hoping to add more to the team gold won last night.
