Simone Biles celebrates Olympic win with pointed comment following ex-teammate’s criticism
Biles, 27, shared photos of herself and teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera celebrating their gold medal performance in the team gymnastics final, with the caption “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions.”
The Instagram post appears to be a response to controversial comments from Skinner, 27, who criticized the Team USA gymnasts in a YouTube video following the team selection on June 30.
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be,” she said in the video, which has since been deleted.
“A lot of girls don’t work as hard,” she added. “The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
Biles appeared to respond in a post on Threads which read “not everyone needs a mic and a platform.”
Skinner then posted a video defending her comments on Instagram Stories, claiming that she had been “misinterpreted or misunderstood.”
However, she later apologized in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, amid an online backlash.
“It was not my intention to offend of disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work,” she wrote.
“I take full responsibility for what I said and I deeply apologize.”
Skinner and Biles both competed for Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Skinner retired after winning a silver medal on vault at the Games.
After winning the team gold on Tuesday, Biles now holds the most Olympic medals of any US gymnast in history, adding to her title as the most decorated gymnast of all time.
Despite their differing perspectives, both Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles remain dedicated to their beloved sport of gymnastics. Following their successful team performance, Chiles shared her enthusiasm for the sport, expressing, "Gymnastics continues to be such an important part of my life."
