The feud between the former U.S. gymnasts continues to deepen.
After Simone Biles criticized former teammate Mikayla Skinner in an Instagram post celebrating her gold medal on Wednesday, current U.S. gymnast Sunisa Li appeared to double down on her criticism.
“If Simone Biles did this to you, point your finger down,” Lee, 21, wrote in a comment that appears to have been deleted, along with a hand emoji.
The original spat began when Skinner, who won a silver medal with the U.S. team in Tokyo, suggested this year’s gymnastics roster lacked the necessary integrity.
“Beyond Simone, I just feel like we don’t have the talent or the depth that we had,” Skinner said in a video that was removed from YouTube after the 2024 roster was released. “The work ethic isn’t there among our guys.”
“Talentless, lazy, Olympic champion,” Biles wrote in an Instagram post after the U.S. won gold in the team gymnastics final, apparently mocking Skinner.
2024 Paris Olympics
The plot got even more complicated on Wednesday when Biles suggested Skinner had blocked her on at least one social media platform.
However, just weeks before the start of the Summer Olympics, Skinner posted a statement on social media apologizing for his earlier comments.
“I would like to formally apologize to Team USA and our gymnastics community for my recent comments on YouTube during the Gymnastics Olympic Selection.” Skinner wrote in a July 6 Instagram post.“It was not my intention to offend or disrespect the players or take away from their efforts.”
Skinner, who retired after the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, was not part of this year’s five-woman team that reclaimed the all-around team title, led by Biles, Li, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hesley Rivera.
In a spectacular performance that earned the U.S. team a total of 171.296 points, Lee placed first on the balance beam in Rotation 3 with 14.600 points, placed second on the uneven bars in Rotation 2 with 14.566 points, and also earned 13.533 points on the floor exercise in Rotation 4.
Lee wasn’t the only prominent American gymnast to publicly support Biles while criticizing Skinner: former gold medalist McKayla Maroney also commented on Biles’ post.
“It couldn’t get any more symbolic than this… She cheated and then found out,” Maloney wrote, not-so-unapologetic in her criticism of Skinner. “I feel like I have to apologize to defend my reputation.”
Given Team USA’s youthful energy and social media profile, the celebratory tour, filled with vitriol seemingly directed at Skinner, isn’t likely to end anytime soon.
