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MyKayla Skinner, a former Team USA gymnast who won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, asked Simone Biles to call off the alleged bullying she’s received over their tit-for-tat.
Skinner released a nearly four-minute video asking for the negative treatment of her to stop and revealed she’s received "death threats" over the assumed rivalry with the 11-time medalist.
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Simone Biles of the United States competes during the women's floor exercise final of artistic gymnastics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, Aug. 5, 2024. (Cheng Min/Xinhua via Getty Images)
"I sincerely hoped that this topic wouldn’t need to be revisited, but unfortunately, things have really gotten out of hand lately," Skinner said. "And it’s one thing to disagree with me regarding something I have said or a point I was trying to make, but it’s something else entirely when that turns into cyberbullying or even worse. Watching people cheer on the bullying — which has led to threats of physical harm to me, my husband and our daughter — is disgusting. So please at this point, I’m just asking for it to stop for the sake of my family because enough is enough.
"So why I’m here is because about four weeks ago, 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% responsibility for poorly articulating the point I was trying to make, and the last thing I wanted was to cause harm or offend our U.S. 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."
Skinner ruffled the feathers of the Team USA women’s gymnastics squad earlier this year.
MyKayla Skinner of Team United States competes in the Women's Vault Final on day nine of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on August 01, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
"Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be. Just notice like, I mean, obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic," Skinner said in a since-deleted YouTube video, according to the New York Post.
Skinner issued an apology in the days after the remarks went viral. But Biles and her teammates used it as fuel as they won the team final last week at the Paris Games.
Biles posted a collage of photos on Instagram showing her and her teammates carrying the American flag across the floor to celebrate their gold medal victory in the team final. In her post on Instagram, Biles did not mince words.
"Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions," she wrote.
Skinner said in her newest video she thought she had made up with Biles and was "heartbroken" over what the war of words has now become.
MyKayla Skinner of Team United States poses with the silver medal following the Women's Vault Final on day nine of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on August 01, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
"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 fueled another wave of hateful comments, DMs, articles and emails. Hate that includes death threats to me, my family and even my agent. My family and my friends don’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire here. They’ve done nothing," Skinner added.
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"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."
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