The Story Behind Simone Biles’ Viral Instagram Caption

simone Biles took to social media to celebrate Team USA winning the gold medal in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday, posting a group photo of the team and their medals. But it was her caption that caught the most attention. Next to the image, Biles wrote: “Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions.”

The caption was apparently a throwback to comments claiming that the current U.S. administration. The women’s team is not as disciplined as the previous ones. In a now deleted YouTube video posted in early July, Biles’ former Olympic teammate MyKayla Skinner said, “Aside from Simone, I feel like the talent and depth isn’t what it used to be.” She also said, “Girls just don’t have the work ethic… to get where you need to be in gymnastics you have to be, I think, a little aggressive and a little intense.” Her comments came after the US Olympic qualifiers when Biles was named to the 2024 Olympic team, along with Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee, and Hezly Rivera.

Skinner competed with Biles on the 2020 team in Tokyo. With different rules in place during these Games, Skinner was allowed to compete as an individual athlete outside of the four official U.S. team members. When Biles withdrew from the team competition and the vault and floor finals due to her turns, Skinner stepped in and won silver in the vault final.

Skinner quickly apologized for his YouTube video in an Instagram Story, saying, “I feel like a lot of you misinterpreted or misunderstood exactly what I meant or said.

Biles returned to Skinner’s initial video, posting on Topics on July 4th. She did not mention her former teammate by name, but said, “Not everyone needs a microphone.”

Skinner shared a additional apologies on X (formerly Twitter) on July 6, directing his words to “Team USA and our gymnastics community.”

The back-and-forth highlights the seismic cultural shift taking place in U.S. women’s gymnastics after one of the biggest sexual abuse scandals in sport exposed deficiencies in the system for failing to protect athletes and holding organizations like USA Gymnastics accountable. Hundreds of gymnasts, including Biles, have come forward with reports of sexual abuse by team doctor Larry Nassar, and investigations have revealed that USA Gymnastics officials were alerted to complaints but failed to take appropriate action, allowing Nassar to continue treating athletes. of the national team for the longest time. more than a decade.

The culture of not encouraging gymnasts to speak out for fear of being left off coveted international and Olympic teams contributed to long-lasting abuse, gymnasts said, and to the rigid system Skinner referred to, led by longtime gymnast coordinator National team. Martha Karolyi contributed to keeping the athletes silent. “I’m not defending Martha or saying what she did was good, I’m just saying it was different,” Skinner said in his apology.

Biles catalyzed a change in this culture, which many considered toxic, and discouraged gymnasts from smiling and appearing to have fun during competitions. Her first coach told TIME before the Rio Olympics that Biles broke the mold by being cheerful and expressing her personality in training camps and competitions, and she never discouraged her from doing otherwise, as that was Biles’ personality.

In Paris, after winning the women’s gold medal, Biles addressed the cultural shift she helped instigate, noting that “Gymnasts – they used to try to put us in a box. So if you weren’t like that you weren’t successful. When I arrived, nobody really talked or laughed and all that stuff [at training camps]. But I thought, this is not how I do gymnastics. So I’m going to continue doing the gymnastics that I know and love and that’s why I fell in love with the sport. Now we show our personality and have a lot of fun, but know that as soon as we get on the field, we put in the work and it shows in the results. And we no longer need to be put in a box.”