Simone Biles defends calling out ex-teammate who asked her stop after brutal comment
While Simone Biles has been making history on the gymnastics floor, she’s also been making some pretty brutal comments online.
Racking up some extra medals at this year’s Olympics, the GOAT is now the most decorated gymnast in history.
And aside from doing the ultimate act of sportsmanship on the podium and calling out reporters over one specific question, she’s also called out her ex-teammate.
Earlier last week, Biles and her fellow Team USA gymnasts (Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera) took gold in the women’s artistic team all-around event.
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Taking their celebrations to Instagram, the 27-year-old took a swipe at previous Olympic silver medallist MyKayla Skinner, who didn’t make the cut for the Paris team.
In a now-deleted video, the gymnast questioned the talent and dedication of this year’s team and said ‘besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be'.
Skinner added: “The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
She later apologised for her comments, adding that it was 'not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work'.
However, this didn’t exactly sit well so when they picked up the gold, Biles shared a photo with her teammates, writing: “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions."
The star also took to Threads to say: “Not everyone needs a mic and a platform.”
It was then soon revealed, with a repost from the star gymnast, that Skinner had ‘blocked Simone’.
Following all of this, Skinner has taken to social media to beg Biles to ‘put a stop’ to the online comments and trolling as she has been bullied by the backlash.
Having previously shared an apology, she went on to say: “I made a comment about work ethic and what seems to be taking pace with the rising generation.
"To be totally clear, I take 100 percent responsibility for poorly articulating the point I was trying to make and the last thing I wanted was to cause harm or offend our US Olympic team.”
She also begged Biles to ask her ‘followers to stop’.
In an interview with People, Biles defended calling Skinner out as she said: “For somebody to stand up, I know it meant a lot for [my teammates]."
She explained that she takes her role as ‘team lead’ seriously and she’s happy to use her voice to stand up both for her team and herself.
“It's important because you have to teach them to use their voices. And if not, you're a voice for the voiceless, which is okay. I just felt like it was right in that moment to stand up for them, because they're so young and they haven't fully stood in their power yet,” Biles said.
Topics: Simone Biles, Olympics, Social Media, Sport
Jess Battison