Disgraced gymnast gets dragged by Simone et al. following US team's win
The United States women's gymnastics team won team gold yesterday and the winning ladies took to social media pretty quickly to celebrate their win. The caption from one of Simone Biles' posts had the Gymternet going nuts.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Simone Biles (@simonebiles)
So what's the story behind this caption? Is she calling herself and/or her own teammates lazy and untalented? What does it all mean?????? Let me give all the context you need to understand why her caption is one of the most SCATHING responses to someone she once considered a friend.
To give the full story, we have to go all the way back to the 2016 US Olympic trials. This was the year that many casual gymnastics fans first heard of Simone Biles, but many were already familiar with Gabby Douglas, who made history in 2012 not only by extending the Amerian women's domination in the Olympics all-around event, but also by becoming the first Black woman to hold the title. After the 2016 Trials, both Simone and Gabby were named to the team, along with Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian. Most people were pretty excited for Gabby's return to the team, but one person who was mad about it was team alternate MyKayla Skinner.
MyKayla complained about not being selected for the team, despite coming in 4th in the Trials. However, head coach Marta Karolyi defended her choice of Gabby over MyKayla because she pointed out that MyKayla's best events were the events that Simone, Laurie, and Aly (who were the top three finishers) were already strongest on, while Gabby and Madison had the best overall score on bars, which was MyKayla's weakest event.
Still pressed about being named an alternate, MyKayla decided to retweet a photo that a fan of hers made, photoshopping her onto Gabby's body. (It should also be noted that Gabby placed one spot higher than Madison in Trials, yet MyKayla and this fan chose to go after Gabby).
The post didn't get a lot of attention outside the Gymternet, but she was handily dragged for retweeting it, to the point that she released a Certified Internet Apology(TM): "I’m so sorry if I offended anyone. I was in the wrong by retweeting that tweet! I’m so grateful to be part of the team! Go USA."
Gabby and Madison went on to post the two highest bars scores of the meet (only Russia's Aliya Mustafina, who tied for best score with Madison, was better than Gabby's) and helped the team win their second straight team gold medal. As an alternate, MyKayla won nothing.
Now let's move on to 2020-21. After the Olympics were postponed until 2021, MyKayla made it her goal to get back on the team, although she faced a tough field and the rule change that lowered the maximum for the team from 5 members to 4. MyKayla placed fifth overall and was not chosen for the team, which was made up of the top four finishers: Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum. However, MyKayla got a second chance when she was chosen to represent the US as an individual athlete along with Jade Carey. This meant that while she wouldn't be eligible to compete for the team medal, she would be able to compete in qualifications as an individual to try and get a spot in event finals.
Unfortunately for MyKayla, international elite gymnastics has a rule that prevents more than two athletes per country from competing and she qualified no better than third behind other American gymnasts. With her hopes dashed, MyKayla prepared to head back home. However she got a break when Simone Biles withdrew, making MyKayla eligible for the vault final. Unfortunately, MyKayla won silver. During this time, Simone was one of MyKayla's biggest supporters, encouraging her to do well and even commenting on MyKayla's instagram after her win, saying: "I'm so freaking proud of you!" and there were several reels of Simone and MyKayla hanging out, so people thought maybe she had changed.
Dearest reader, she had not.
Now we come to 2024. MyKayla, having retired from the sport and primarily devoting her time to being a Mormon tradwife influencer , was not competing in the 2024 US Trials, but that didn't stop her from having her opinions on the team selection.
MyKayla Skinner is really out here advocating for abusing athletes and thinking she’s something special when she only made the team as an individual (she didn’t participate in team AA) and she only competed because Simone withdrew. Girl, shut up.
pic.twitter.com/ILJZVmuLp1
- Duchess Sexpert (@DuchessSexpert) July 4, 2024
In a now-deleted video that is summarized by clips in the twitter video above, MyKayla did the following:
(I just wanted to add that MyKayla's comments from the full video flat out say that the team was "stronger" under the reign of Bela and Marta Karolyi. During the Karolyi era of US gymnastics, which stretched from 1988 to 2016, numerous former gymnasts who competed under them have openly said that the Karolyis were verbally, psychologically, and emotionally abusive. They pressured athletes to compete despite being injuried, leading to the premature ending of numerous careers including Kerri Strug. They put athletes on extremely restrictive diets, leading to them developing eating disorders and poor body image. They isolated gymnasts for weeks at a time during team camps at their Karolyi Ranch, preventing contact with parents, coaches and friends. And while they were not directly responsible, their strict and controlling methods led many of their gymnasts to be susceptible to abuse from notorious serial abuser Larry Nassar. THIS is the regime that MyKayla implies that the USAG should return to).
MyKayla's comments caused a huge uproar, not just on the Gymternet, but because it was an Olympic year and more casual fans were paying attention, garnered even more mainstream attention. MyKayla's comments received criticism from gymnastics legends like Dominique Moceanu, gymnastics parents like Gina Chiles, and to everyone's surprise, even Simone Biles.
Due to the backlash, MyKayla came out with another Certified Internet Apology, making sure to turn off the comments so she couldn't be dragged further.
pic.twitter.com/1uYVJCTiSX
- MyKayla Skinner (Harmer) (@mykaylaskinner) July 6, 2024
Whew, that was a lot of context!! But now that you're all caught up, this leads us to yesterday's women's team final and Simone's instagram post. With all eyes on the Olympics, this means that thanks to Simone's post, MyKayla's shitty history and even shittier comments about her fellow gymnasts are being brought back to bite her in the ass.
obsessed with all the US gymnasts of past and present, men and women, chiming in to drag mykayla skinner in the comments of simone’s post. suni and mckayla maroney went for BLOOD. pic.twitter.com/Uwa7V0wTek
- emma (@beifongluvr) July 31, 2024
Simone's post garnered comments from gymnasts past and present--you can see a few in the screenshot above, but this also includes 2008 all-around gold medalist Nastia Liukin, Simone's 2016 teammate Laurie Hernandez, 1992 team medalist and trailblazer Betty Okino, two-time Olympic figure skating medalist Michelle Kwan, and Simone's husband Jonathan Owens. Even Wendy's popped off in the comments, telling Simone "Careful she might block u lol"
To absolutely no one's surprise, this is exactly what MyKayla did lmao.
More drama than the team final for real! Jordan Chiles posted an IG story showing that MyKayla Skinner blocked Simone after Simone’s post last night lmfao pic.twitter.com/mQiDLOq8pf
- frank costanza’s burner account (@AnaMariana42) July 31, 2024
So while MyKayla Skinner sits at home bitter and with the prospect of any future career as a coach, commentator or association in any way USA gymnastics in shambles, Simone is participating in her third straight Olympics and will be competing in the women's all around tomorrow, vault event finals on Saturday and floor and beam event finals on Monday.
sources: simone's instagram, twitter, twitter 2, twitter 3, certified internet apology #2, with context help from reddit + teen vogue
Whew, what a wild ride! I hope you enjoyed this very long and deeply researched post about how one woman's inability to simply keep her shitty opinions to herself backfired on her so badly that it ended friendships, tainted her legacy and led to her getting dragged by the entire internet.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Simone Biles (@simonebiles)
So what's the story behind this caption? Is she calling herself and/or her own teammates lazy and untalented? What does it all mean?????? Let me give all the context you need to understand why her caption is one of the most SCATHING responses to someone she once considered a friend.
To give the full story, we have to go all the way back to the 2016 US Olympic trials. This was the year that many casual gymnastics fans first heard of Simone Biles, but many were already familiar with Gabby Douglas, who made history in 2012 not only by extending the Amerian women's domination in the Olympics all-around event, but also by becoming the first Black woman to hold the title. After the 2016 Trials, both Simone and Gabby were named to the team, along with Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian. Most people were pretty excited for Gabby's return to the team, but one person who was mad about it was team alternate MyKayla Skinner.
MyKayla complained about not being selected for the team, despite coming in 4th in the Trials. However, head coach Marta Karolyi defended her choice of Gabby over MyKayla because she pointed out that MyKayla's best events were the events that Simone, Laurie, and Aly (who were the top three finishers) were already strongest on, while Gabby and Madison had the best overall score on bars, which was MyKayla's weakest event.
Still pressed about being named an alternate, MyKayla decided to retweet a photo that a fan of hers made, photoshopping her onto Gabby's body. (It should also be noted that Gabby placed one spot higher than Madison in Trials, yet MyKayla and this fan chose to go after Gabby).
The post didn't get a lot of attention outside the Gymternet, but she was handily dragged for retweeting it, to the point that she released a Certified Internet Apology(TM): "I’m so sorry if I offended anyone. I was in the wrong by retweeting that tweet! I’m so grateful to be part of the team! Go USA."
Gabby and Madison went on to post the two highest bars scores of the meet (only Russia's Aliya Mustafina, who tied for best score with Madison, was better than Gabby's) and helped the team win their second straight team gold medal. As an alternate, MyKayla won nothing.
Now let's move on to 2020-21. After the Olympics were postponed until 2021, MyKayla made it her goal to get back on the team, although she faced a tough field and the rule change that lowered the maximum for the team from 5 members to 4. MyKayla placed fifth overall and was not chosen for the team, which was made up of the top four finishers: Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum. However, MyKayla got a second chance when she was chosen to represent the US as an individual athlete along with Jade Carey. This meant that while she wouldn't be eligible to compete for the team medal, she would be able to compete in qualifications as an individual to try and get a spot in event finals.
Unfortunately for MyKayla, international elite gymnastics has a rule that prevents more than two athletes per country from competing and she qualified no better than third behind other American gymnasts. With her hopes dashed, MyKayla prepared to head back home. However she got a break when Simone Biles withdrew, making MyKayla eligible for the vault final. Unfortunately, MyKayla won silver. During this time, Simone was one of MyKayla's biggest supporters, encouraging her to do well and even commenting on MyKayla's instagram after her win, saying: "I'm so freaking proud of you!" and there were several reels of Simone and MyKayla hanging out, so people thought maybe she had changed.
Dearest reader, she had not.
Now we come to 2024. MyKayla, having retired from the sport and primarily devoting her time to being a Mormon tradwife influencer , was not competing in the 2024 US Trials, but that didn't stop her from having her opinions on the team selection.
MyKayla Skinner is really out here advocating for abusing athletes and thinking she’s something special when she only made the team as an individual (she didn’t participate in team AA) and she only competed because Simone withdrew. Girl, shut up.
pic.twitter.com/ILJZVmuLp1
- Duchess Sexpert (@DuchessSexpert) July 4, 2024
In a now-deleted video that is summarized by clips in the twitter video above, MyKayla did the following:
- Says no one on the team has a strong work ethic other than Simone.
- Claimed that "Team USA needed" her and that she definitely could've made the team after injuries took down Shilese Jones, Skye Blakley and Kayla DiCello, who were strong contenders to make the team.
- Claimed that the women's team lacks work ethic because of SafeSport regulations, rules that were literally put in place to help prevent sexual abuse and exploitation in U.S. Olympic sports.
- Thinks that the team was stronger under Marta Karolyi because coaches were allowed to be more aggressive and intense.
- Criticizes both Suni Lee and Jade Carey, saying it's an indication that the rest of the field has poor work ethic if Suni, who she called "girl who came in second", could fall on beam and still come in second in all around, but also that Suni doesn't have a gymnastics body and has poor work ethic for falling (the same Suni who worked hard to come back from a kidney disease diagnosis), and that Jade (who came in first on vault and second on floor at Trials, and fourth overall in all-around, mind you) was lucky she even made the team.
- Deliberately mispronounced the name of 16-year-old Hezly Rivera as "HAZE-ly" despite clearly hearing it pronounced numerous times during the live stream, to the point that even her husband (who previous claimed he was a better athlete than MyKayla and even briefly had the Gymternet on her side because he's such a red flag of a man) corrected her by saying Hezly's name right.
(I just wanted to add that MyKayla's comments from the full video flat out say that the team was "stronger" under the reign of Bela and Marta Karolyi. During the Karolyi era of US gymnastics, which stretched from 1988 to 2016, numerous former gymnasts who competed under them have openly said that the Karolyis were verbally, psychologically, and emotionally abusive. They pressured athletes to compete despite being injuried, leading to the premature ending of numerous careers including Kerri Strug. They put athletes on extremely restrictive diets, leading to them developing eating disorders and poor body image. They isolated gymnasts for weeks at a time during team camps at their Karolyi Ranch, preventing contact with parents, coaches and friends. And while they were not directly responsible, their strict and controlling methods led many of their gymnasts to be susceptible to abuse from notorious serial abuser Larry Nassar. THIS is the regime that MyKayla implies that the USAG should return to).
MyKayla's comments caused a huge uproar, not just on the Gymternet, but because it was an Olympic year and more casual fans were paying attention, garnered even more mainstream attention. MyKayla's comments received criticism from gymnastics legends like Dominique Moceanu, gymnastics parents like Gina Chiles, and to everyone's surprise, even Simone Biles.
Due to the backlash, MyKayla came out with another Certified Internet Apology, making sure to turn off the comments so she couldn't be dragged further.
pic.twitter.com/1uYVJCTiSX
- MyKayla Skinner (Harmer) (@mykaylaskinner) July 6, 2024
Whew, that was a lot of context!! But now that you're all caught up, this leads us to yesterday's women's team final and Simone's instagram post. With all eyes on the Olympics, this means that thanks to Simone's post, MyKayla's shitty history and even shittier comments about her fellow gymnasts are being brought back to bite her in the ass.
obsessed with all the US gymnasts of past and present, men and women, chiming in to drag mykayla skinner in the comments of simone’s post. suni and mckayla maroney went for BLOOD. pic.twitter.com/Uwa7V0wTek
- emma (@beifongluvr) July 31, 2024
Simone's post garnered comments from gymnasts past and present--you can see a few in the screenshot above, but this also includes 2008 all-around gold medalist Nastia Liukin, Simone's 2016 teammate Laurie Hernandez, 1992 team medalist and trailblazer Betty Okino, two-time Olympic figure skating medalist Michelle Kwan, and Simone's husband Jonathan Owens. Even Wendy's popped off in the comments, telling Simone "Careful she might block u lol"
To absolutely no one's surprise, this is exactly what MyKayla did lmao.
More drama than the team final for real! Jordan Chiles posted an IG story showing that MyKayla Skinner blocked Simone after Simone’s post last night lmfao pic.twitter.com/mQiDLOq8pf
- frank costanza’s burner account (@AnaMariana42) July 31, 2024
So while MyKayla Skinner sits at home bitter and with the prospect of any future career as a coach, commentator or association in any way USA gymnastics in shambles, Simone is participating in her third straight Olympics and will be competing in the women's all around tomorrow, vault event finals on Saturday and floor and beam event finals on Monday.
sources: simone's instagram, twitter, twitter 2, twitter 3, certified internet apology #2, with context help from reddit + teen vogue
Whew, what a wild ride! I hope you enjoyed this very long and deeply researched post about how one woman's inability to simply keep her shitty opinions to herself backfired on her so badly that it ended friendships, tainted her legacy and led to her getting dragged by the entire internet.