Simone Biles is riding high after her incredible win at the Paris Olympics, which saw all members of Team U.S.A's female gymnastics squad taking home gold. The 27-year-old took a moment to not only celebrate her victory, but also dismiss naysayers of the team on social media.
© LIONEL BONAVENTUREThe gold medalist took to Instagram to share a photo of herself and her team members looking ecstatic as they carried their flag across the gymnastics mat. She captioned the photo: "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions" with a heart emoji and a medal emoji.
Many have perceived this to be a response to former gymnast MyKayla Skinner, who in a now-deleted YouTube video criticized the 2024 team and suggested that the talent and work ethic were not there when compared to other years.
© Maja HitijThe retired athlete said: "Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be." She continued: "A lot of girls don't work as hard, the girls just don't have the work ethic."
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MyKayla then went on to suggest that a change in attitude from coaches - brought on by the creation of non-profit U.S. Center for Safesport, safeguarding against abuse in athletics - was part of the reason for the lacking work ethic.
"Coaches can't get on athletes and they have to be really careful what they say," she said. "Which, in some ways, is really good, but at the same time, to get to where you need to be in gymnastics you do have to be, I feel like, a little aggressive and a little intense."
The silver medalist deleted the video, apologizing as she explained her comments were "misinterpreted or misunderstood."
© Tom WilliamsSpeculation that Simone's caption responded to her former teammate was seemingly confirmed when former gold medalist McKayla Maroney responded: "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."
Simone's husband Jonathan Owens seemed to back up McKayla when he chimed in: "F AROUND AND FIND OUT"- joining his wife in clapping back. He also added: "Gold Medalist" with a number of celebratory emojis.
The record-breaker's teammate Jordan Chiles added: "And that’s on periodt!!"
At 27 years old, Simone is the most decorated gymnast in history, with 40 medals on the world stage - including five gold medals, one silver, and two bronzes at the Olympics.