Olympic gymnast MyKayla Skinner recently shared her thoughts about the work ethic of current gymnasts. Basically, she bashed their work ethic.
E! News reports that in a since deleted YouTube video, the 27-year-old claimed that “obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard.” She stated that Simon Biles was the exception, but otherwise “I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be.”
Skinner blamed the lack of work ethic partly on SafeSport. She said, “And it’s hard too because of SafeSport. Like, coaches can’t get on athletes and they have to be really careful what they say. Which, in some ways is really good, but at the same time, to get to where you need to be in gymnastics you do have to be, I feel like, a little aggressive and a little intense.”
As Team USA gears up for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Skinner’s comments went viral and were met with a lot of backlash. Even Biles appeared to weigh in on the controversy by stating on Threads, “not everyone needs a mic and a platform.”
In response to the controversy, Skinner posted a new video where she defends herself and clarifies her comments. In this video, she claims she wasn’t talking about Team USA. She said, “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.”
She went on to apologize saying, “Sorry for anything that got out of context or seemed hurtful.” She also claimed that she’s “pumped” for the current gymnastics team.
Watch the video below to learn more about Skinner’s controversial comments and her video where she defends herself by explaining what she meant by her comments.