Simone Biles celebrated her victorious return to the Olympics with a not-so-subtle swipe at those who doubted her and her teammates.
The iconic gymnast and the Team USA squad triumphed Tuesday in the women’s gymnastics team event, securing gold medals for Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera.
“Lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions,” Biles posted on Instagram after the win, with a carousel of pictures of the team celebrating with an American flag.
Charlie Riedel via Associated Press
The five-time Olympic gold medalist was apparently taking a shot at former teammate MyKayla Skinner, who made controversial remarks last month seemingly criticizing the current women’s gymnastics team for a lack of work ethic and talent.
“Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t what it used to be,” Skinner said in a since-deleted YouTube video. “Obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. … The girls just don’t have the work ethic.”
Skinner, who subbed in for Biles in the vault finals at the Tokyo Olympics and won silver, later said her comments had been misinterpreted, and that 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.”
Biles has contended with extremely high pressure and online criticism over the course of her high-flying career, which she opened up about in the new Netflix docuseries “Simone Biles Rising.”
She faced an onslaught of backlash after dropping out of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago to focus on her mental health and described in the series how she had since worked through past traumas and self-doubt fueled by negative comments. She returned to the Olympic stage with commanding performances and confidence this week.
Steve Christo – Corbis via Getty Images
The comments section of her Tuesday night post was full to the brim with supporters.
“And that’s on periodt!!” Chiles commented.
“F AROUND AND FIND OUT,” wrote her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens.
“I’m so freaking proud of you,” wrote teammate Rivera.
Former gymnast Nastia Liukin, a five-time Olympic medalist, said it was a “micdrop” moment.
“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,” wrote McKayla Maroney, another former gymnast and Olympic gold medalist.
Former Olympic ice skater Michelle Kwan wrote, “Four letter word for all the haters – G.O.A.T 🐐!!! Bravo.”
And several commenters joked that Biles was deserving of another gold medal — this time for her caption.
