PARIS, France — The U.S. women's gymnastics team just won gold with a stunning show of athleticism and teamwork on Tuesday. So, why is everyone talking about a gymnast named MyKayla Skinner?
Who is MyKayla Skinner?
MyKayla Skinner was a member of the U.S. Gymnastics Women's Senior National Team from 2013-2022. Born in Gilbert, Arizona, Skinner started gymnastics in the year 2000, according to her USA Gymnastics bio. As an elite gymnast, she won a number of national and world championship medals in vault and floor exercise.
Skinner was named an alternate for both the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic teams. She competed in the 2020 Olympics on vault, ultimately winning a silver medal after Simone Biles withdrew due to the twisties.
Now 27 years old, Skinner is a wife and a mom who works as a YouTube vlogger and social media influencer, often posting family, lifestyle and gymnastics-related content.
MyKayla Skinner's Olympics comments
During this year's Olympic gymnastics trials, Skinner hosted virtual watch parties on her YouTube channel where she reacted to the gymnasts' routines.
In one video, which has since been deleted, she made comments about the gymnasts' work ethic that caused backlash throughout the gymnastics world and beyond.
"Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be," Skinner said, in part.
"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 continued.
Skinner's comments stirred up so much controversy she issued an apology statement, saying in part, "It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work."
Simone Biles' Instagram caption explained
When the U.S. women's gymnastics team won the gold medal in team finals, Simone Biles posted a celebratory photo on Instagram with a not-so-subtle caption referencing Skinner's previous comments.
Biles' photo of her alongside her four Olympic teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera had the caption "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇."
The comments from her friends, family and teammates that followed seem to confirm that the caption was a clapback at Skinner.
"Put a finger down if Simone Biles just ended you 🖐🏼," Suni Lee commented, seemingly referencing a TikTok Skinner previously posted doing the "put a finger down" trend.
"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," McKayla Maroney, another former U.S. gymnast, said.
What followed a short time later was a post on X from Biles saying, "oop I've been blocked 👀🤭😂," and a post on her teammate Jordan Chiles' Instagram story showing that MyKayla Skinner had blocked Simone on the social media app.
With eight Olympic medals, Biles is now the most decorated American Olympic gymnast of all time. She still has four more events at the Paris Olympics to potentially add to her resume, too. The 27-year-old is scheduled to compete in the women's all-around, vault, balance beam and floor exercise.
