MyKayla Skinner Reacts to Team USA Gymnasts Winning Gold After Controversial Comments
MyKayla Skinner is showing her support for the Team USA gymnasts after their dominance at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic athlete was among the many showing love for Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera amid their gold medal-winning performance during the team all-around final July 30, reposting a photo of the five athletes and adding three heart emojis.
The subtle support comes as just weeks after Skinner came under fire for comments she made about the team which Biles seemingly referenced in her own Instagram post celebrating the team’s win.
Sharing a pic with her teammates, Biles—who became the most decorated U.S. gymnast in history with her most recent gold medal—wrote, “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions."
The caption seemingly referred to Skinner’s since-deleted YouTube video where she criticized the five Olympians who qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics team.
“Besides Simone I feel like the talent and the depth isn’t what it used to be,” Skinner said in early July. “I just noticed, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls don’t have the work ethic.”
The 27-year-old later clarified her comments, saying she felt viewers had “misinterpreted or misunderstood” what she was saying.
"A lot of the stuff that I was talking about wasn't always necessarily about the current team,” Skinner said, “because I love and support all the girls that made it and I'm so proud of them."
Skinner previously apologized for how her comments were perceived. "I love those girls and I'm seriously so happy for them," Skinner said at the time. "I would never do anything to make them feel otherwise. So, sorry if that came out wrong, that was not my intentions at all."
Despite the clarification, Biles didn’t appear to take kindly to Skinner’s comments, posting on a Thread at the time, “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform.”
The silver medalist—she placed second in the women's vault in Tokyo—added that she’d made the comments after returning to her own gym, where she felt the “work ethic is different.”
Skinner previously apologized for how her comments were perceived. "I love those girls and I'm seriously so happy for them," she said at the time. "I would never do anything to make them feel otherwise. So, sorry if that came out wrong, that was not my intentions at all."
Despite the clarification, Biles didn’t appear to take kindly to her former teammate’s comments, posting on Threads at the time, “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform.”
Drama aside, Team USA dominated the mat on July 30 at the women's gymnastics final. Read on for more from their impressive victory.
Jordan Chiles, Hezly Rivera, Simone Biles, Jade Carey and Suni Lee celebrated after winning gold.
The Team USA gymnasts had some fun with their medals on the podium after winning the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Team Final.
Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles waved the national flag around the arena to celebrate their win.
The team was all smiles after hearing they had won the gold.
Biles looked confident as she performed her floor routine.
Lee shined during her uneven bars routine.
Biles reacts after finishing her routine on the uneven bars.
Chiles and Biles enjoyed a sweet moment together during the competition.
Biles soared during the vault competition.
Chiles had the best reaction after finishing her routine on the uneven bars.
After falling during her floor routine at qualifiers, Carey returned to the arena for the team finals, where she dominated the vault competition.
Lee delivered a jaw-dropping floor routine for Team USA.
It was another strong performance from Biles on the uneven bars.
After completing her incredible floor routine, Chiles broke down in tears.
Biles hit the balance beam in style.
Jordan Chiles fell while competing on the balance beam, but battled back to finish her routine.
The Olympian's husband Jonathan Owens, who took a break from NFL training camp to fly to Paris, and mom Nellie Biles cheered her on in the crowd.