The Simone Biles and MyKayla Skinner drama explained

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Simone Biles and MyKayla Skinner were seen talking to each other after the Women’s Final in Paris in 2024.

During the competition on Tuesday, July 28, Biles and her team won the gold medal. Biles had withdrawn from the majority of the 2020 competitions due to experiencing the "twisties." Skinner stepped in as the alternate for Biles, and they ultimately earned a silver medal.

After the Gymnastic US Olympic Team Trials in Minneapolis, Minnesota, earlier this month, Skinner uploaded a video on YouTube that has since been removed. In the video, she stated that the current gymnasts for the 2024 Olympics do not possess the same level of dedication and commitment as those who competed in previous years.

Skinner expressed concern about the current level of talent and depth on the team, noting that many girls do not seem to put in as much effort or have the same work ethic as they used to.

Skinner also discussed a change in how coaches interact with gymnasts, saying: "Coaches can't be too hard on athletes, which is good in some ways. However, in order to succeed in gymnastics, you do need to be somewhat forceful and energetic."

Following the upload, segments from the video started to spread on social media platforms. Biles, a previous teammate of the person in the video, shared her thoughts on Instagram Stories saying, "Not everyone should have a voice and public platform." The mother of Jordan Chiles, another Olympian on the Team USA squad, also weighed in on the video, commenting on the situation with, "Wow. She actually said that and posted it. That's something..."

Next, the athlete who won a silver medal in the Olympics posted an Instagram Story expressing regret for her comments in the video. She explained that her words were influenced by her own past experiences and she had no intention of upsetting the 2024 team.

"Just wanted to address the comments made in my latest video!" she wrote on her Story in that moment.

"Hi everyone, I just wanted to quickly address something because I noticed that some of you may have misunderstood the content of our recent YouTube recap video," Skinner said as she began her apology. "I want to clarify what I meant to prevent any confusion or misinterpretation."

Many of the things I discussed were not specifically about the current team. I have admiration and backing for all the girls who have made it, and I am extremely proud of them.

"When I returned to my own gym, I noticed a change in work ethic compared to the time when we were training under Marta Karolyi, the former US coach," she explained.

"I apologize if anything was misunderstood or unintentionally caused harm," she added. "I was really excited for the girls throughout the video and had a great time watching the trials and interacting with everyone during the live session."

"I have a lot of love for those girls and I am genuinely thrilled for them," she finished. "I would never want to do anything to make them feel differently. So, I apologize if that was misinterpreted, that was not my goal at all."

Nonetheless, Skinner seemed to express her approval for the team winning the gold medal by sharing a picture on her Instagram Story of them proudly displaying their gold medals, accompanied by a slew of red heart emojis.

Even though she said sorry and got backing from fans on social media, Biles wrote a post on Instagram celebrating the team's Olympic victory. The caption seemed to reference Skinner's removed video. Biles' post said, "People think we lack talent and are lazy, but we are Olympic champions."

A lot of supporters commented expressing that they noticed the sly remark directed at Skinner. Even ex-gymnast McKayla Maroney joined in with a comment, playfully apologizing for Skinner, who happens to share her name.

"It doesn't get more legendary than this... She made a mistake and faced the consequences for real. It feels like I should say sorry just to salvage my reputation," her statement said.

Even though Skinner did not address the post publicly, Biles wrote on X, previously called Twitter, on Wednesday, July 31, "whoops I've been blocked". This message led many to believe that Skinner was the one who blocked her.

The rumor was seemingly validated by Chiles, who provided evidence that Skinner had blocked Biles. She took a photo of her teammate's phone, showing that Biles could not see any of Skinner's posts. Chiles shared the picture on her Instagram Story with the caption: "When she blocks Simone."