MyKayla Skinner Clarifies CONTROVERSIAL Comments About Olympic Team E- News

Transcript

00:00I mean a lot of the stuff that I was talking about wasn't always necessarily about the current team

00:06because I love and support all the girls that made it and I'm so proud of them."

00:10Mikayla Skinner is clarifying her controversial comments about Team USA.

00:15On July 3rd, the gymnast takes to her Instagram stories to defend herself amid backlash

00:22that came after she made some comments about gymnasts' work ethic on Team USA.

00:28The comments were initially made in a since-deleted YouTube video.

00:32Now Mikayla is explaining what she meant and apologizing for any misunderstanding.

00:38Hey guys, just wanted to pop on here really quick because I know we did the recap

00:42on YouTube and I feel like a lot of you guys had misinterpreted

00:46or misunderstood exactly what I was meaning or had said.

00:49I mean a lot of the stuff that I was talking about wasn't always necessarily about the

00:55current team because I love and support all the girls that made it and I'm so proud of them.

01:00It was more about going back into my own gym.

01:02Just the work ethic is different compared to when we were doing gymnastics in the MARTA era

01:07and I'm not sticking up for MARTA or saying what she did was good.

01:11I'm just saying it was different.

01:13So anyway, sorry for anything that got out of context or seemed hurtful.

01:19That is never my intentions.

01:20And seriously, throughout the video I was so pumped for the girls

01:23and it was so fun watching trials and doing a live with everybody.

01:27I love those girls and I'm seriously so happy for them.

01:30So I would never do anything to make them feel otherwise.

01:34So sorry if that came out wrong.

01:36That was not my intentions at all.

01:37In the since-deleted YouTube video, the 27-year-old

01:41shares her candid thoughts on the new era of USA Gymnasts.

01:45Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be.

01:54I mean obviously a lot of girls don't work as hard.

01:56The girls just don't have the work ethic and it's hard too because of safe sport.

02:00Coaches can't get on athletes and they have to be really careful what they say,

02:05which in some ways is really good.

02:07But at the same time, to get to where you need to be in gymnastics,

02:09you do have to be, I feel like, a little aggressive and a little intense.

02:13The U.S. Center for Safe Sport is a non-profit organization founded in

02:182017 in an effort to help end abuse in athletics.

02:22Mikayla stepped in for Simone Biles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after she withdrew

02:28and earned a silver medal in the vault competition.

02:31The now-retired athlete made the comments just weeks before the 2024 Olympics kickoff in Paris.

02:38Simone Biles, who recently qualified to represent Team USA in the upcoming Summer Games,

02:44seemingly claps back at Mikayla, posting this message on threads on July 4,

02:50writing, simply, not everyone needs a mic and a platform.