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Simone Biles Reveals Why It’s ‘Important’ to Stand Up for Her Teammates Amid MyKayla Skinner Drama
Simone Biles will always have her teammates’ backs. The Olympic gold medalist opened up about why it was necessary for her to stand up for the U.S. women’s gymnastics team after former gymnast MyKayla Skinner made comments about today’s gymnasts’ work ethic.
“It’s important because you have to teach them to use their voices,” Simone, 27, told People in an interview published on Tuesday, August 6. “And if not, you’re a voice for the voiceless, which is OK.”
She continued, “I 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. For somebody to stand up, I know it meant a lot for [my teammates].”
On July 30, Simone and the rest of Team USA — Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — won gold medals in the team all-around final at the 2024 Olympics. The Ohio-born artistic gymnast celebrated the achievement by taking to Instagram with photos of the team, which she captioned, “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions.”
This caption was seemingly a clapback at former teammate MyKayla, 27, who said in a since-deleted YouTube video during the Olympic trials in June that, “besides Simone,” the “talent and depth” among gymnasts today was not “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,” MyKayla added before citing SafeSport, an organization dedicated to ending abuse in sports. “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.”
Simone seemingly shared a response to the retired athlete’s comments via Instagram Threads, writing on July 3, “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform.” MyKayla apologized for her video the next day, telling fans that her comments were “misunderstood” and that she was “proud” of the current team.
After Simone posted her celebration photo with the pointed caption, Jordan, 23, revealed that MyKayla had blocked the 11-time Olympic medalist. MyKayla finally addressed the post in a video on August 6, explaining that she has endured cyberbullying ever since.
“I sincerely hoped that this topic wouldn’t need to be revisited, but unfortunately, things have really gotten out of hand lately,” MyKayla said. “And it’s one thing to disagree with me regarding something I have said or a point I was trying to make, but it’s something else entirely when that turns into cyberbullying or even worse. Watching people cheer on the bullying — which has led to threats of physical harm to me, my husband and our daughter — is disgusting. So please at this point, I’m just asking for it to stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough.”
MyKayla added that she was hurt by Simone’s caption and directly asked her to help put an end to the cyberbullying.
“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,” the mom of one said. “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.”
She continued, “Please ask your followers to stop. You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness and a lot of people need your help now. We’ve been attacked in ways that I’m certain you never intended. Your performance, the team’s performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another.”
