Olympian and former University of Utah athlete MyKayla Skinner has weighed in on the social-media spat between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines, saying that she was “belittled” and “ostracized” by Biles, her former teammate. She did not offer specifics.
In a statement Skinner provided to One America News, the retired gymnast said, “Throughout my own career, I endured being belittled, dismissed, and ostracized behind the scenes by Simone. The pressure to stay silent was immense. I kept quiet out of respect — for the sport, for my teammates, and for the ideal of unity among athletes. But witnessing this kind of public shaming, especially from someone in a position of influence, makes that silence no longer acceptable."
Skinner was referring to social-media posts that Biles had made about Riley Gaines, the former collegiate swimmer who has become a de facto spokeswoman for people who believe transgender athletes should be barred from women’s and girls’ sporting events.
Their quarrel began after Gaines, a frequent guest on Fox News and host of the “Gaines for Girls” show on OutKick, responded to a post on X about a softball team in Minnesota that won the state championship with a transgender player. “To be expected when your star player is a boy,” Gaines wrote.
Biles responded to Gaines’ post, calling her a bully and a “straight-up sore loser.”
“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. ... You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!”
Gaines responded to that post, saying, “This is actually so disappointing. It’s not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces.”
Four days later, Biles apologized on X, saying, “I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport. The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for. These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don’t have the answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect.”
It’s unclear why Skinner decided to speak out when she did, but on June 13, One America News Network released her statement on X. In the statement, she took Gaines’ side and said that Gaines “deserves support — not ridicule."
Skinner, who did not immediately respond to an interview request from Deseret News, did not elaborate on the behavior that she attributed to Biles, whom she replaced in the vault final in Tokyo in 2021 after Biles withdrew for mental-health reasons. Skinner went on to win a silver medal in that competition.
In her statement, Skinner said: “It’s one thing to disagree. It’s another to use your platform to bully and demean. No one should be punished for standing up for fairness and biological reality. We should be lifting each other up — not tearing one another down for speaking hard truths.“
Biles has also been under fire for what has been called “body shaming” because in her response to Gaines, she also said “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”
Gaines went on the Fox News show “Outnumbered,” where she said, “First of all, I’m 5’5”…I’m about 130-135 lbs. Not overly big. Yes, I’m muscular. I think that’s part of being an athlete. If anyone would understand that you would imagine it would be Simone Biles.”
Biles, who has won 11 Olympic medals, has not publicly responded to Skinner’s comments and has not posted on X since sharing the statement in which she apologized on June 10.
Gaines, for her part, seems to have moved on from their quarrel, and has been posting about the pregnancy she announced Sunday, saying “There’s something so special and providential about having a little girl.”