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After the Americans won the women’s gymnastics final, Biles appeared to respond on Instagram to criticism from a former teammate. McKayla Maroney agreed.
From left, Suni Lee, Simone Biles and Hezly Rivera celebrate after winning the gold medal in the women’s artistic gymnastics team final at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
If former U.S. gymnast MyKayla Skinner had known the NSFW name the U.S. women’s gymnastics team used to refer to itself before winning the gold medal in the Olympic team final Tuesday in Paris, she might have thought twice about criticizing the group last month.
“Untalented, lazy, Olympic champions,” American superstar Simone Biles wrote on Instagram, alongside a photo of the Americans celebrating their gold medal Tuesday night. Biles did not tag her former teammate, but the caption appears to be a reference to Skinner’s comments after this year’s U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials.
“Other than Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth is not what it used to be,” Skinner, who won silver on vault at the 2020 Tokyo Games, said in a since-deleted YouTube video. “I mean, obviously a lot of the girls don’t work as hard anymore. The girls just don’t have the work ethic, and it’s hard because of SafeSport. Coaches can’t go after athletes and they have to be really careful about what they say, which in a way is really good, but at the same time, to get to where you need to be in gymnastics, you have to be a little aggressive, a little intense.”
(The U.S. Center for Safe Sport was an independent agency created by Congress in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal to investigate misconduct in Olympic sports.)
Skinner apologized in a statement days later and said her comments had been misinterpreted, but Biles had the last laugh after her eighth Olympic medal made her the most decorated American gymnast in Olympic history.
“TAKE A ROUND AND FIND OUT,” Biles’ husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, captioned the Instagram post, a reference to the name Biles and her teammates revealed they gave themselves during a press conference after winning gold.
The fitting name is spicier than some of the nicknames used by the U.S. women’s gymnastics team at previous Olympics, including the “Magnificent Seven” (1996), “Fierce Five” (2012), “Final Five” (2016) and “Fighting Four” (2021).
McKayla Maroney, who won gold with the Americans at the 2012 Games, also commented on Biles’ Instagram post, hoping to clear up any confusion about the similar name she shares with Skinner.
“There’s nothing more iconic than that,” Maroney wrote. “She acted like a jerk and found out [for real]. I feel like I have to apologize just to get my first name back.
“Put your hand down if Simone Biles just killed you,” added Sunisa Lee, Biles’ teammate and the reigning all-around champion.
Biles proposed an alternate, G-rated name for the X-rated team.
“Okay, but to be fair, the official name of the team is Golden Girls (because they are the oldest Olympic team),” she wrote.
For Skinner, this year’s team could still be Team FAAFO, and the apparent feud between the former teammates may not be over.
On Wednesday, Biles’ teammate Jordan Chiles shared a photo to an Instagram story from Skinner’s Instagram profile that read, “Not posted yet” and captioned, “When she blocks Simone.”
“Oops, I got blocked,” Biles wrote on X, followed by emojis suggesting she didn’t particularly care.
