Olympic medalist MyKayla Skinner has been quiet since her former teammate Simone Biles seemingly threw shade at her while celebrating Team USA’s success at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but her husband, Jonas Harmer, shared a glimpse of what she’s been up to amid the drama.
Harmer, 27, took to his Instagram Story on Tuesday, July 30, to share videos of Skinner, also 27, at what appeared to be a kids’ gymnastics camp.
“New friends >,” the American Ninja Warrior alum captioned a clip of his wife walking arm in arm with three young girls around a camp. In other clips, Skinner could be seen eating ice cream, chatting with campers and hugging several girls in a gymnastics center.
“Real life >,” Harmer captioned a video of Skinner in the gym.
The posts came just hours after Biles, 27, raised eyebrows with an Instagram post that seemingly nodded to Skinner.
“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions,” Biles captioned a photo of herself holding up an American flag alongside teammates Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera after they took home the gold medal in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday.
Fans quickly noticed the similarities between Biles’ caption and remarks that Skinner made in a since-deleted YouTube video late last month.
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t what it used to be. I mean, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic,” Skinner said at the time.
Skinner added that the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an independent organization responding to “sexual, physical and emotional” abuse in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement, makes it harder for coaches to push their athletes to greatness.
“Coaches can’t get on athletes, 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 … a little aggressive, a little intense,” Skinner said.
Biles was one of many gymnasts to testify against Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor whose serial sexual abuse of athletes under the guise of medical treatment led to the creation of the U.S. Center for Safesport. She seemed to react to Skinner’s comments via Threads on July 3.
“Not everyone needs a mic and a platform,” Biles wrote.
Skinner later apologized for her statements, saying that they were “misinterpreted” and claiming she “wasn’t always necessarily [talking] about the current team.”
Biles isn’t the only one who subtly called out Skinner this week. Former USA gymnastics team member McKayla Maroney commented on Biles’ Tuesday Instagram post, writing, “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.”
Lee, 21, commented, “Put a finger down if Simone Biles just ended you.”
While Skinner has yet to address the backlash, it seems she has responded in her own way.
“When she blocks Simone,” Chiles, 23, wrote via her Instagram Story on Wednesday, July 31, alongside a photo of Skinner’s profile on a phone. In the snap, there are “no posts available” on Skinner’s page, a tell-tale sign of being blocked. Biles and Chiles’ reflections were also visible on the phone’s screen in the photo.
