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.
Tensions are simmering between Simone Biles and MyKayla Skinner following the U.S. gymnastics team’s big win at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Share icon 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
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) July 31, 2024
— Not Tim Daggett (@TimBingo) July 31, 2024 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
— Sophie Rain Thread 🔥❤️ (@SophieRainForum) July 31, 2024 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
A post shared by MyKayla Skinner (Harmer) (@mykaylaskinner2016) “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
A post shared by Simone Biles (@simonebiles) 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. Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing! Follow Bored Panda on Google News! Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda!
