MyKayla Skinner Harmer is issuing a plea to Simone Biles.
The awe-inspiring efficiency by Simone Biles and the remainder of Crew USA gymnastics has earned 7 Olympic medals. Three of these are gold.
Nonetheless, simply weeks in the past, MyKayla Skinner Harmer, who has technically by no means made an Olympic workforce besides as an alternate, stirred up controversy by attacking the present gymnasts. Simone Biles clapped again.
Now, MyKayla is asking Simone to rescue her from on-line backlash. Is she making this all about herself? And is that this actually Simone’s accountability?
Bear in mind MyKayla Skinner Harmer?
MyKayla was an alternate on the 2016 Olympics. That yr, she grew to become the middle of an argument after modifying her photograph over Crew USA gymnast Gabby Douglas. The accompanying racist emojis didn’t assist.
Then, she competed within the 2021 Tokyo Olympics (as a person), profitable a silver medal on the vault.
Except diehard gymnastics followers, many individuals forgot MyKayla Skinner Harmer till just lately. In a now-deleted YouTube video, MyKayla lashed out at Crew USA gymnasts.
Do Olympic athletes are usually ‘lazy’ individuals?
MyKayla Skinner Harmer accused the Olympic gymnasts representing america on the 2024 Paris video games of being “lazy” and missing in athletic aptitude.
“I really feel just like the expertise and the depth simply isn’t like what it was once,” she claimed. “Simply discover like, I imply, clearly a number of ladies don’t work as exhausting. The ladies simply don’t have the work ethic.” That appears to be patently unfaithful.
There was additionally an implication by MyKayla that security guidelines, which got here to being after the many crimes of Dr. Nassar, had been not directly making the workforce worse. It’s obscure why MyKayla would take these positions, or what she hoped to realize by sharing them.
Simone Biles took the excessive highway
For her half, Simone Biles’ clapback was gentle. She didn’t name out MyKayla Skinner Harmer by identify, for instance.
As an alternative, she provided a tongue-in-cheek Instagram caption beneath pictures of herself and different gymnasts for Crew USA.
“Lack of expertise, lazy, Olympic champions,” she described. Different Olympians, previous and current (and notably McKayla Maroney)
Now, MyKayla Skinner Harmer is begging Simone Biles to ask followers and followers to depart her alone
On Tuesday, August 6, MyKayla took to Instagram to handle Simone Biles immediately. Although the ladies have definitely met again on the Tokyo video games, one can solely assume that they don’t have one another’s contact info.
MyKayla lamented what she calls a “wave of hateful feedback” which have included alleged “loss of life threats.”
She begged: “Simone, I’m asking you immediately and publicly, to please put a cease to this.”
MyKayla Skinner Harmer would really like for the backlash to finish
“Please ask your followers to cease, you’ve been an unimaginable champion for psychological well being consciousness and lots of people want your assist now,” MyKayla Skinner Harmer begged.
She mentioned of herself and her household: “We’ve been damage and attacked in ways in which I’m sure you by no means supposed.”
We, too, are sure that Simone Biles didn’t intend something of the kind. But it appears like MyKayla believes that SImone is in some way chargeable for it.
She alleges that there have been threats
“Watching individuals cheer on the bullying — which has led to threats of bodily hurt to me, my husband, and our daughter — is disgusting,” MyKayla Skinner Harmer expressed. “So please at this level, I’m simply asking for it to simply cease for the sake of my household as a result of sufficient is sufficient.”
She additionally tried to stroll again earlier feedback, emphasizing: “I do know these girls are unimaginable — the easiest of the most effective — and nearly all of them are my former teammates who I’ve loved very a lot cheering on the previous few years.”
“If Simone really believes that I referred to as our workforce lazy and missing expertise and if that’s actually how she feels, I’m actually heartbroken over it,” she lamented.
It’s unclear how this might be Simone’s fault
“However not simply heartbroken as a result of it isn’t what I really feel and even how I beforehand mentioned, however as a result of Simone’s newest put up and others that adopted it fueled one other wave of hateful feedback,” MyKayla Skinner Harmer alleged.
“Hate that features loss of life threats to me, my household, and even my agent,” she continued. “My household and my mates don’t should be caught within the crossfire right here. They’ve performed nothing.”
We definitely hope that any threats of loss of life or violence stop. Whereas it’s troublesome to see how any of that’s Simone Biles’ enterprise, not to mention accountability, threats usually are not an acceptable response.