Simone Biles has been asked to try and help 'stop the trolls' by one of her former USA teammates following on from social media row between the two during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Biles took on former Team USA gymnast MyKayla Skinner after the ex teammate hit out at the current USA gymnastics team for the Paris Games.
In a now deleted YouTube video, 27-year-old Skinner sad that 'besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be'.
"The girls just don't have the work ethic," she said.
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This was before Biles and fellow Team USA gymnasts Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera won gold in the women's artistic team all-around event.
Skinner quickly retracted the comments, posting an apology that read: "I want to formally apologise to Team USA and to our gymnastic community for my comments during my recent YouTube episodes of the gymnastics Olympic trials.
"It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work."
Biles decided to take on Skinner directly after the remarks. Posting an image of the five gold medal winners to Instagram, Biles wrote: "Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions."
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And her husband, Chicago Bears NFL star Jonathan Owens, commented: "F AROUND AND FIND OUT."
The row escalated, with Biles seemingly blocked by Skinner on Instagram. Posting to Instagram Stories, Jordan Chiles took a picture of Skinner's profile on Biles' phone, which despite being a public account, was not available to her to view.
"When she blocks Simone," Chiles wrote. And on X (formerly Twitter), Biles added 'oops I've been blocked' with a side eye and laughing emojis.
Now, Skinner has finally spoken out on the row that has been somewhat of a distraction during the Olympic Games.
Posting a new video to Instagram, Skinner said Biles should help 'put a stop' to the online comments and trolling that has surrounded the world of American gymnastics.
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In the video, Skinner says she has been bullied as a result of the backlash. But she said it has gone further than that too, with 'disgusting threats of physical harm' towards her baby daughter, husband, and herself.
Skinner said: "I made a comment about work ethic and what seems to be taking pace with the rising generation. To be totally clear, I take 100 percent responsibility for poorly articulating the point I was trying to make and the last thing I wanted was to cause harm or offend our US Olympic team.
"I know these women are incredible, the very best of the best, and almost all of them are my former teammates who I have enjoyed very much cheering on the last few years.”
She also revealed she sent each gymnast an individual message as a way of trying to build bridges following the now deleted YouTube video.
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"If Simone truly believes that I called our team lazy and lacking talent and if that’s really how she feels, I am really heartbroken over it," Skinner added.
"But not just heartbroken because it isn’t what I feel or even how I previously said, but because Simone’s latest post and others that followed it fuelled another wave of hateful comments, DMs, articles and emails.
"To Simone, I am asking you directly and publicly to please put a stop to this. Please ask your followers to stop. You have been an incredible champion for mental health awareness and a lot of people need your help now. We’ve been attacked in ways that I’m certain you never intended. Your performance, the team’s performance and the Olympics in general should be a time that we support one another.”
Biles has yet to publicly respond to Skinner.
Topics: Simone Biles, US News, Instagram, Social Media, Olympics, Sport, Mental Health
Tom Earnshaw