Simone Biles' ex-teammate MyKayla Skinner defends Riley Gaines and makes bombshell claim about gymnast

Daily Mail​

10 hours ago

Simone Biles ' former teammate MyKayla Skinner has reignited their feud in explosive fashion after accusing the Olympic legend of 'belittling' her behind the scenes and siding with Riley Gaines in their recent transgender dispute.
Skinner, who became embroiled in a furious spat with Biles last year, has unleashed an astonishing attack on the gymnast in the wake of her viral argument with Gaines on X last week.
Biles ripped into Gaines, an outspoken conservative activist and former swimmer who had to compete against a biological male in her college career, for campaigning against the inclusion of trans athletes in women's sports, branding her 'truly sick' and a 'bully' while claiming she has the appearance of a man.
She has since apologized over the remark, while backtracking on her apparent suggestion that trans women should be free to compete against biological females.
Yet as the dust settles on her spat with Gaines, Biles is now facing accusations of bullying herself from Skinner, who has made bombshell claims against her ex-Olympic teammate in an statement provided to One America News.
The latter first sided with Gaines over the recent transgender debate by arguing: 'As an athlete who has dedicated years to a sport, I've always believed that true competition should elevate us - not diminish others.
OAN received an official statement on behalf of @mykaylaskinner:
"As an athlete who has dedicated years to a sport, I've always believed that true competition should elevate us—not diminish others. That's why it's deeply troubling to see @Simone_Biles publicly label a fellow… pic.twitter.com/owcjv7JejB
— One America News (@OANN) June 13, 2025
'That's why it's deeply troubling to see @Simone_Biles publicly label a fellow female athlete a 'sore loser' - simply for expressing valid concerns about fairness in women's sports.'
She added: 'I commend and appreciate @Riley_Gaines_ for having the courage to speak up. Women like her are not only standing for fairness, but for the future of female athletics itself. She deserves support - not ridicule.
'It's one thing to disagree. It's another to use your platform to bully and demean. No one should be punished for standing up for fairness and biological reality. We should be lifting each other up - not tearing one another down for speaking hard truths.'
Skinner, who has known the American icon for over a decade after they both represented USA at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, then opened up on the shocking treatment she claims Biles subjected her to when they were teammates.
'Throughout my own career, I endured being belittled, dismissed and ostracized behind the scenes by Simone,' she alleged. 'The pressure to stay silent was immense. I kept quiet out of respect - for the sport, for my teammates, and for the ideal of unity among athletes.
'But witnessing this kind of public shaming, especially from someone in a position of influence, makes that silence no longer acceptable.'
Skinner and Biles were teammates at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when they both picked up medals despite the latter withdrawing from several events with a case of the 'twisties' - a mental block that that sees a gymnast lose control of their body during a twisting skill in midair.
MyKayla picked up her silver in the vault event after Simone took a backseat, marking one of her greatest achievements as a gymnast after also winning four golds in the World Championships.
Biles and Gaines were caught in a shocking war of words over transgender athletes last week
Skinner says the Olympic icon 'belittled and ostracized' her when they were teammates
However, four years later the gymnastics duo who once considered themselves friends as well as teammates are now on bitter terms.
Their fallout began when Skinner questioned the 'work ethic' of certain Team USA gymnasts last year, which sparked an angry response from Biles.
'Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be,' MyKayla said in a now-deleted YouTube video.
'The girls just don't have the work ethic.'
Despite Skinner excluding her from that brutal assessment, Biles appeared to hit back at her on social media at the time.
The USA great took a thinly-veiled swipe by writing on Threads: 'not everyone needs a mic and a platform'.
She and a number of other gymnasts, including Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, and Jade Carey, also blocked Skinner on social media after her comments.
After the team claimed gold medals in the gymnastics teams final at last year's Paris Olympics, Biles aimed a sarcastic dig at Skinner when she shared a photo of herself, Chiles, Carey, Lee and Hezly Rivera holding the American flag aloft with the caption: 'lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions'.
Skinner later backtracked by claiming her comments were simply taken out of context.
'I feel like a lot of you guys had misinterpreted or misunderstood exactly what I was meaning or had said,' she said on Instagram.
'A lot of the stuff that I was talking about wasn't always necessarily about the current team, because I love and support all the girls that made it and I'm so proud of them.
'It was more about going back into my own gym and the work ethic is different compared to when we were doing gymnastics in the Marta [Karolyi] era. And I'm not sticking up for Marta or saying what she did was good, I'm just saying it was different.'