Simone Biles celebrated her first gold win of the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this week alongside her fellow Team USA gymnasts, only to hop on socials and find herself allegedly blocked by her former teammate MyKayla Skinner, who heavily criticized the team in a previous YouTube video that has been deleted.
“Oop, I’ve been blocked,” Biles posted to her X feed on July 31 without naming anyone. However, Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles revealed who Biles’ unnamed hater was after she posted a screenshot of her story, which showed Skinner’s Instagram profile with the words, “No Posts.” For those who missed Chiles’ story, Good Morning Iowa
anchor Chenue Her had fans covered on X. Over Chiles’ screenshot, she wrote, “When she blocks Simone.”The drama allegedly started after Skinner, who competed at the Tokyo Olympics, threw shade at the American gymnasts in her YouTube video.
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be,” Skinner said, according to a clip posted by an X user. “Just notice, like, I mean, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard.”
Biles, known to use her platform to inspire young athletes and keep fans informed of her gymnastics achievements, seemingly clapped back at the negativity from her former teammate days later on Threads. “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform,” she wrote.
Biles and the other American gymnasts – Chiles, Jade Carey, Suni Lee, and Hezly Rivera – have already proved Skinner’s statement false after they walked away Tuesday with the gold. Despite the hateful comments about Team USA, Biles, now a nine-time Olympic champion, proudly posed beside her team in a July 30 photo she posted to Instagram.
“Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions,” Biles captioned the post, which garnered a flood of celebration from Instagram users. The amount of support from fans, family, A-list celebrities, and other professional athletes from across sports is a testament to the positive impact Biles has made on the gymnastics floor. According to former Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, McKinney “f’d around n found out fr.”
The 2024 Paris Olympics have been extremely rewarding for Biles. According to CBS News, the adored
athlete made history as the first African American to win the women’s gymnastics individual all-around competition twice after winning gold this week. As the world’s “most decorated gymnast,” she holds 30 World Championships.RELATED CONTENT: Simone Biles Lands Partnership With Athleta Sportswear