Olympic feud: understand the disagreement between Simone Biles and former teammate MyKayla Skinner

Shortly after winning the gold medal in artistic gymnastics, beating Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, Simone Biles made a provocative post to a former teammate. Soon after, the gymnast took to social media saying that she had been blocked. But by whom?

Everything indicates that the greatest gymnastics champion today was referring to MyKayla Skinner, a former American gymnast who competed for the United States at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, when she won the silver medal. She joined the North American team as a replacement, shortly after Biles withdrew to take care of her mental health.

This year, MyKayla did not participate in the Paris qualifiers, as she gave birth to her first child. However, she managed to stay in the spotlight by posting a video criticizing the American team. The post, which has since been deleted, claimed that the 2024 team would have “no work ethic.”

“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and depth is not what it used to be. I mean, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. Girls just don’t have the work ethic,” she said in the video, which was widely covered in the American media.

The gymnast made two public apologies. She explained that she was buying the 2024 Olympic team from the 2021 one, with which she competed under the guidance of coach Marta Karolyi.

The gymnasts on the winning team, in turn, were dissatisfied with their former teammate’s criticism and sent indirect messages right after winning the title. Simone Biles posted a carousel of photos on her Instagram profile with the caption: “Talentless, lazy and Olympic champions.”

Jordan Chiles, also on the team, posted a photo showing that Biles had been blocked by MyKayla on Instagram. The gymnast made fun of the incident on her X profile (formerly Twitter): “Oops, I’ve been blocked.”