PARIS, France — The tea is hot and the shade is overcast in Paris, apparently, after U.S. gymnast and Texas resident Simone Biles seemingly took a shot at one of her former teammates after critical remarks were made about the women's Olympic team.
After winning gold, Biles posted on her Instagram a celebratory photo of her alongside her four Olympic teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera with the caption "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇."
Eagle-eyed fans quickly connected Biles' caption to remarks made by one of her former teammates, MyKayla Skinner. Skinner and Biles both represented USA at the 2014 World Championships and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Skinner earlier this month said in a now-deleted YouTube video that "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 continued.
Skinner's comments brought backlash online, and she posted an apology note on her Instagram page.
“It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work,” Skinner's statement said, in part.
After the team won gold, Skinner posted to her Instagram stories a photo of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team during the gold medal ceremony with three hearts over it. Biles posted her photo five hours after Skinner's. The reaction to Biles' comments is telling.
"F AROUND AND FIND OUT," Biles' husband, Chicago Bears defensive back Jonathan Owens, commented.
"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH," Biles' sister, Adria, commented.
"and that’s on periodt!!," U.S. Olympic teammate Jordan Chiles said.
"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," McKayla Maroney, another former U.S. gymnast, said.
Just before noon Wednesday, Biles tweeted "oop I’ve been blocked 👀🫢😂."
Biles, with eight Olympic medals, is now the most decorated American Olympic gymnast of all time. She still has four more events at the Paris Olympics to potentially add to her resume, too. The 27-year-old is scheduled to compete in the women's all-around, vault, balance beam and floor exercise.
If she gets first in two more events in Paris, she'll land on the list of Americans with the most gold medals at the Summer Olympics.
Currently, Jenny Thompson - with eight gold medals - has the most of any American woman in the Summer Games - Biles would need three more to match that level.
Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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