SIMONE BILES DESTROYS EX-USA TEAM-MATE WITH SIX-WORD RESPONSE TO OLYMPIC TEAM CRITICISM

Simone Biles helped lead the US to gymnastics gold

Simone Biles delivered the perfect response on social media after helping the USA win gold in light of criticism from former team-mate MyKayla Skinner, who questioned the team.

Simone Biles has mocked former US team-mate MyKayla Skinner's "work ethic" criticism after winning Olympic gold in the women’s gymnastics.

Biles furthered her legacy and is now the most decorated American gymnast in the history of the Olympics with eight medals. She led the US team, which also included Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee and Hezly Rivera, to victory in the team gymnastics final on Tuesday.

Prior to the games beginning in Paris Skinner, who had claimed silver in the vault final in Tokyo three years ago, took aim at the lack of quality in the US team once you looked past Biles. She also bemoaned the effort being put in by the current crop of stars - only for them to win gold.

She said in a YouTube video: "Besides Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t what it used to be. I mean, obviously, a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic.

"A lot of girls don’t work as hard. It’s hard too because of SafeSport. Coaches can’t get on athletes which in some ways is really good but at the same time, to get to where you need to be in gymnastics you do have to be… a little aggressive, a little intense."

Biles celebrated her gold on her Instagram and put up a post of her and her team-mates with their medals before creating a caption that clearly had Skinner's comments in mind. She wrote: "Lack of talent, lazy, Olympic champions."

Skinner has since u-turned on her criticism and claim she was drawing comparisons between the current team and the class of 2021, who were led by the controversial coaching regime of gymnastics coach Marta Karolyi.

Mykayla Skinner's comments about the current squad have come back to haunt her

She said: "Upon reflection, I was comparing the ‘Marta Era’ to the current era. I am coming to terms that I have not fully dealt with the emotional and verbal abuse I endured under Marta that perhaps led to my hurtful comments. I take full responsibility for what I said and deeply apologise."

America, who took their oldest ever team to the Olympics, were able to make amends for coming up short in Japan with Biles admitting that was a huge motivation. “I think we all had something to prove from Tokyo and tonight we did just that," she said.

The US victory was Biles' 38th career gold medal across the Olympics and world championships - further extending her record as the most decorated gymnast in history.

- Samuel Meade, Sports Brand Writer

LEE"S PERFORMANCE AT US CHAMPIONSHI LIFTED BY BILES PEP TALKS

Christine T. Nguyen | MPR News

 Sunisa Lee thought her chances of making the U.S. team for the Paris Olympics had crumbled after an awful vault at the national championships earlier this month but some words of encouragement from team mate Simone Biles helped to turn her meet around.

Since winning gold in the all-around at the Tokyo Olympics Lee has spent time sidelined with kidney illnesses and needed a strong performance at the pressure packed competition to stay in the running for the five-person Paris squad.

On the first rotation of the final day, Lee got slightly wrongfooted on her run toward the apparatus, abandoned her planned double twist and landed on her back.

"After my vault, I kind of just walked away," Lee told Reuters. "I really thought, this is going to be the end of my elite career."

Enter Biles, who took it upon herself to seek out and comfort Lee backstage at the arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

"I was in the tunnel kind of having a breakdown, telling myself to get it together and Simone came running over and asked me if I was doing okay," she said.

"She understood everything that I was going through, and basically told me to just remember my keywords, to go out there and do my thing and not focus on anything else."

Lee asked Biles to stand nearby to offer support during her uneven bars routine and the four-times Olympic champion could be heard urging the 21-year-old on during the June 2 broadcast.

Growing in confidence, Lee was aggressive on balance beam, one of her best events, and finished the competition in fourth place, greatly improving her chance of punching a ticket to Paris. The team will be named after this month's Olympic Trials.

Biles battled a case of the "twisties" - a mental block where gymnasts are disoriented in midair - three years ago in Tokyo and used that experience to help open up a wider conversation about mental health.

She took a two-year break from the sport but since returning has been as dominant as ever, including winning the U.S. Championships for a record-extending ninth time.

"She understands more than anyone the pressure and has had to deal with the worst, so it really helped to have her in my corner," Lee said.

In addition to her recent kidney ailments, Lee has long suffered from the skin condition eczema and has partnered with Eli Lilly to raise awareness of it.

"When I was growing up I didn't have a lot of people talking about their eczema and I would just sit with that insecurity, not wanting to go out and compete because in a leotard our skin is very exposed," she said.

"That's why this partnership has been so amazing because it has helped me really embrace it and try to help the younger generations feel more comfortable with it."