“Oop I’ve been blocked 👀🫢😂,” Biles, 27, shared via X on Wednesday, July 31, seemingly referring to Skinner, also 27. While Biles did not offer any further information regarding who she was discussing, fans were quick to read between the lines.
Fellow Team USA member Jordan Chiles was quick to confirm that this was, indeed, a reference to Skinner with one Instagram Story post.
“When she blocks Simone,” Chiles, 23, wrote on Wednesday alongside a screenshot of Skinner’s profile. In the snap, Instagram is showing “no posts available” for Skinner with the option to follow — the tell-tale signs of being blocked. Us Weekly knows them well. (Biles and Chiles’ reflections were also visible on the phone’s screen in the photo.)
The ongoing tension between Biles and Skinner came to a head after Team USA — comprised of Biles, Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera — took home the gold team medal during the 2024 Paris Olympics on Tuesday, July 30.
“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions,” Biles captioned an Instagram post on Tuesday, featuring her teammates holding the American flag. Her caption appeared to reference Skinner’s past comments about the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.
In a since-deleted YouTube video uploaded late last month, Skinner criticized “the talent and the depth” of Team USA, telling viewers that it “isn’t what it used to be.” (Skinner made a point to exclude Biles from her narrative.)
oop I’ve been blocked 👀🫢😂
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) July 31, 2024
“The girls just don’t have the work ethic,” Skinner said, blaming SafeSport for coaches becoming less “aggressive” and “intense.” SafeSport was created to prevent “sexual, physical and emotional abuse” within the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics.
Skinner did apologize for her past comments and celebrate Team USA, but that hasn’t stopped Biles and other gymnasts from bringing them up.
Retired gymnast McKayla Maroney, for one, made a seriously shady comment on Biles’ Instagram post.
“It doesn’t get more iconic than this,” the 28-year-old athlete wrote on Tuesday, referring to Skinner. “She f’d around n found out fr. Feels like I need to apologize just to redeem my first name.”
Chiles backed her teammate as well, writing, “And that’s on periodt!!” in the comments section. Lee, 21, shared Biles’ post too with a pretty telling caption of her own.
“Put a finger down if simone biles just ended you 🖐🏼,” she wrote. Rivera, 16, added, “I’m so freaking proud of you.”
Biles’ gold medal win on Tuesday made her the most decorated U.S. gymnast in Olympics history, breaking Shannon Miller’s past record.
“I am so happy,” Miller, 47, told NBC News on Tuesday. “My heart is full because I know, as an athlete, what it takes to win a gold medal, and these ladies have been through it all on the road to get here.”
