McKayla Maroney is on Simone Biles’ side.
The retired athlete hilariously reacted to Biles and her teammates winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics after MyKayla Skinner claimed they lacked “talent and depth,” even calling one “lazy.”
When Biles, Jordan Chile, Jade Carey, Sunisa Lee and Hezly Rivera emerged victorious on Tuesday, Biles fired back at Skinner’s diss via Instagram.
“lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇🇺🇸,” she captioned a celebratory photo with her teammates.Maroney, 28, took to the comments section to double down on the shade while gushing over the “iconic” winners.
“She f’d around n found out [for real],” Maroney wrote. “Feels like I need to apologize just to redeem my first name.”
As for Skinner, she re-posted a photo of the Team USA members to her Instagram Story along with multiple heart emojis.She previously apologized for her comments amid backlash and deleted the YouTube video in which she alleged the gymnasts “didn’t have the work ethic” needed to win.
“It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or take away from their hard work,” Skinner subsequently told her Instagram followers.
“Your hard work and dedication has paid off and I congratulate each and every one of you,” Skinner concluded.
When she and Biles, 27, competed together in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, their team took home silver medals, with Biles also winning a bronze medal for her balance beam routine.
Biles has another bronze medal from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, during which she also obtained four gold medals.
When Biles and her teammates took first place on Tuesday, she surpassed Shannon Miller’s record of seven Olympic medals and became the most-decorated gymnast in history.
Her husband, Jonathan Owens, celebrated the milestone moment via Instagram — after previously sparking controversy for claiming he didn’t know who she was before they met.
“Witnessing history every time you step on the mat 😍🔥,” the 29-year-old NFL player, who married Biles in April 2023, gushed. “So thankful i was there to see it ❤️🤍💙.”