Simone Biles took a moment to respond to her former teammate MyKayla Skinner after winning her fifth Olympic gold medal. Following the USA gymnastics team’s victory at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Biles posted photos on Instagram with the caption, “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ???.” This was a pointed reference to Skinner’s controversial comments earlier in the summer, where she claimed that besides Biles, the team lacked talent and work ethic.
Skinner had stated in a YouTube video that the current team did not work as hard and lacked the depth and talent of previous teams. Although she later walked back these comments, saying they were misinterpreted, Biles and her teammates clearly remembered and addressed them in their celebration post. Fellow teammates Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles supported Biles’ post, with Lee commenting, “Put a finger down if Simone Biles just ended you,” and Chiles adding, “and that’s on period!!”
Former Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney also chimed in, showing her support for Biles by saying, “She f’d around n found out fr. Feels like I need to apologize just to redeem my first name.” The post received nearly 2.5 million likes, indicating widespread support for Biles’ response.
In an apparent attempt to make amends, Skinner posted an image of the American gymnasts with heart emojis after the podium ceremony. Biles and Skinner had previously competed together at the 2020 Tokyo Games, where Skinner earned a silver medal in vault and Biles won a silver in the team event and a bronze in the balance beam competition.
