Simone Biles Explains Why It Was ‘Important’ to Defend Teammates Amid MyKayla Skinner Tension

Simone Biles will always stand up for Team USA. The 27-year-old gymnast discussed how she has her teammates’ backs during a new interview after closing out her third Olympic Games.

“It’s important because you have to teach them to use their voices,” she told PEOPLE in an interview published earlier this week. “And if not, you’re a voice for the voiceless, which is OK.”

As the “team lead” and the eldest player on the team, Simone pointed out that it “just felt like it was right in that moment to stand up for them, because they’re so young and they haven’t fully stood in their power yet.”

Although she didn’t specify what exactly she defended her teammates — Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Suni Lee and Hezly Rivera — against, Simone’s comment was made the same day that MyKayla Skinner publicly asked her to “stop” her fans from harassing the former Olympian.

“I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this,” MyKayla, 27, said in an Instagram video earlier this week. “Please ask your followers to stop. … Watching people cheer on the bullying is disgusting.”

MyKayla was referring to the vitriol she has seen from online users over comments she previously made about the current generation of gymnasts. In June, the 2020 vault silver medalist appeared in a video, criticizing the “talent” and “work ethic” of the athletes compared to those from the past under former Team USA coordinator Márta Károlyi. Upon receiving backlash from fans, MyKayla publicly apologized, but Simone seemingly clapped back at her former teammate in an Instagram post after Team USA won the gold medal.

“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions,” Simone captioned her post. Many social media users and athletes were convinced that the GOAT was making a reference to MyKayla’s comments. Shortly thereafter, MyKayala blocked Simone on Instagram, and Simone seemingly confirmed it by tweeting, “Oop I’ve been blocked.”

Throughout her Instagram video, MyKayla claimed that she had sent each gymnast from Team USA “individual messages” apologizing to them, but only Simone allegedly responded and said “she was proud” of MyKayla.

“You guys can imagine my surprise last week when I was celebrating our team winning gold just to see this brought up all over again by a caption on an Instagram post,” the Arizona native said, before adding. “If Simone truly believes that I called our team lazy and lacking talent and if that’s really how she feels, I am really heartbroken over it. But not just heartbroken because it isn’t what I feel or even how I previously said, but because Simone’s latest post and others that followed it fueled another wave of hateful comments, DMs, articles and emails. Hate that includes death threats to me my family and even my agent. My family and my friends don’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire here. They’ve done nothing.”

Simone has not publicly responded to MyKayla’s Instagram video.