Simone Biles Sends Strong Message After MyKayla Skinner Slams Olympic Team

Simone Biles is heading to the 2024 Paris Olympics after winning the all-around competition at the U.S. Gymnastics Trials in Minneapolis. Joining Biles on the women's roster, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and newcomer Hezly Rivera.

After the squad was announced, MyKayla Skinner, who won a silver medal on vault at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, chimed in with her thoughts on this year's roster during a two hour watch party on YouTube.

"Besides Simone," Skinner said. "I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t what it used to be. I mean, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”

After seeing three girls suffer devastating injuries during the trials, Skye Blakely, Shilese Jones, and Kayla DiCello, Skinner said she wished she made a comeback this year. "Not saying anything to the girls that got injured, but if I could come back, I think I would be able to do it. And I think I probably could've made that Olympic team."

Skinner, who also criticized SafeSport for limiting how tough coaches can be, faced immediate backlash for her comments, including from Biles.

"Not everyone needs a mic and a platform,” Biles posted on Threads.

Gina Chiles, mother of Jordan Chiles posted on X, "Whoa. She really said that out loud and posted it. That's something...."

Skinner posted an apology on her Instagram Stories on July 3. "Hey guys just wanted to pop on here really quick cuz I know we did the re-cap on YouTube and I feel like a lot of you guys had misinterpreted or misunderstood exactly what I was meaning or had said.

"A lot of the stuff that I was talking about wasn’t always necessarily about the current team because I love and support all the girls that made it and I’m so proud of them. It was more about going back into my own gym and just the work ethic is different compared to when we were doing gymnastics in the Marta (Karolyi) era.”

"And I’m not sticking up for Márta or saying what she did was good," Skinner continued. "I’m just saying it was different. So anyway, sorry for anything that got out of context or seemed hurtful; that was never my intention and seriously, throughout the video."

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