As the dust settles on the U.S. gymnastics team’s big win at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Simone Biles and MyKayla Skinner are flipping the drama up a notch on social media.
The online spat between the two gymnastic powerhouses is unfolding like a reality TV drama, complete with cryptic posts and public apologies.
Simone, now the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympics history, dropped an update after discovering that MyKayla had blocked her on social media.
Highlights
- Simone Biles shared an update that suggested MyKayla Skinner had blocked her on social media.
- Jordan Chiles gave some confirmation on the blocking by sharing a screenshot of MyKayla’s empty Instagram profile.
- Tensions had previously escalated after MyKayla criticized Team USA's work ethic in a now-deleted viral video.
- MyKayla later issued a public apology, saying she didn't mean to offend or disrespect anyone.
Tensions are simmering between Simone Biles and MyKayla Skinner following the U.S. gymnastics team’s big win at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Image credits: Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images
“Oop I’ve been blocked,” the 27-year-old gymnastic star wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Her tweet seemingly hinted at her former teammate having blocked her.
Although Simone didn't explicitly name MyKayla, her fellow gymnast Jordan Chiles provided some form of confirmation.
Jordan shared a screenshot of MyKayla’s Instagram profile, showing it mysteriously devoid of posts, and captioned it, “When she blocks Simone.”
Jordan Chiles posted an Instagram Story on Wednesday of what appeared to be confirmation of Simone having been blocked by MyKayla
The simmering tension between Simone and MyKayla heated up last month when the latter, who snagged a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, took a less-than-flattering swipe at the current U.S. women’s gymnastics team.
The former Olympian suggested in a now-deleted video that the team did not have the right work ethic.
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be. Just notice like, I mean, obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic,” she said in the clip that went viral last month.
Although MyKayla's video was deleted from YouTube, the viral clip is still being widely circulated online
She later issued a public apology for her comments and said she didn’t mean to “offend or disrespect” anyone.
“Dear Team USA & our gymnastics community, I was to formally apologize to Team USA and to our gymnastics community for my comments during my recent YouTube episodes of the gymnastics Olympic trials,” she wrote.
The former Olympian, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, had apologized for saying the team doesn't have the required work ethic
“It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work. Your hard work and dedication has paid off and I congratulate each and every one of you,” the Olympic silver medalist said.
After the U.S. gymnastics team’s victory at the Paris Olympics this week, Simone seemingly took a dig at MyKayla while sharing a post with her teammates, Suni Lee, Hezly Rivera, Jade Carey, and Jordan.
“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions,” she wrote in the caption.
Fellow gymnasts threw their support behind Simone, with Nastia Liukin calling it her "mic-drop" moment
Other gymnastic retirees have been vocal about their support for Simone, with McKayla Maroney commenting on her post, “It doesn’t get more iconic than this.. She f’d around n found out fr. Feels like I need to apologize just to redeem my first name.”
Gymnast Nastia Liukin called it Simone’s “mic-drop” moment.