Social media was already ablaze about Simone Biles’ performance when she helped the U.S. win an Olympic gold medal in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday. But Biles poured gasoline on the social chatter when she posted a series of four photos on Instagram with a cryptic caption.
The caption? “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions” followed by emojis of a heart, gold medal and U.S. flag:
The caption appears to be a not-so-thinly-veiled shot at 2020 Olympic teammate MyKayla Skinner. In a video, which has since been deleted, Skinner reportedly said, “Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be” and “the girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
Biles’ post has more than two million likes and the comments are a must-read.
Biles’ 2024 Olympic teammates were quick to back her up. Sunisa Lee posted “put a finger down if simone biles just ended you” and Jordan Chiles wrote “and that’s on periodt!!”
2012 Olympian McKayla Maroney, who spells her first name differently than Skinner, posted “Feels like I need to apologize just to redeem my first name” and “It doesn’t get more iconic than this.”
Other notable comments came from three-time Olympic ski medalist Lindsey Vonn (“let the haters hate while you [redacted] go get medals),” two-time Olympic figure skating medalist Michelle Kwan (“Four letter word for all the haters – G.O.A.T”) and five-time Olympic gymnastics medalist Nastia Liukin (“midcrop”).
Skinner did not directly address Biles’ post, but she did post a picture of Biles and her teammates to her Instagram Story with three heart emojis.
Biles will compete for her next gold medal in the women’s all-around final on Thursday .
