MyKayla Skinner Harmer, a silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympics, has apologized on Instagram for comments she made in a deleted YouTube video criticizing the talent and depth of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team.
“Besides Simone (Biles), I feel like the talent and the depth just isn’t like what it used to be,” Skinner said in a now-deleted YouTube video that was saved and reposted on X. “I just noticed like, I mean, obviously a lot of girls don’t work as hard. The girls just don’t have the work ethic . . . and it’s hard too because of SafeSport. Coaches can’t get on athletes. They have to be really careful what they say, 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, I feel like, a little aggressive and a little intense.”
According to its website, the U.S. Center for SafeSport “is an independent nonprofit committed to building a sport community where participants can work and learn together free of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and misconduct.”
Harmer, who is not on the upcoming Olympic team, said some girls fell twice and still ended up on second place in the all-around competition.
Part 1: The gymnastics community cannot let these comments to be swept under the rug. I will be as respectful as possible to @mykaylaskinner but instead of engaging in meaningful conversation she blocks anyone who holds her accountable for her words.
Skinner wrote on Instagram, in a July 7 message to “Team USA and our gymnastics community,” that she wanted to “formally apologize to Team USA and to our gymnastic community for my comments during my recent YouTube episodes of the gymnastics Olympic trials. It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to take away from their hard work. Your hard work and dedication has paid off and I congratulate each and every one of you.”
In Her Apology, MyKayla Skinner Harmer Wrote That Abuse She ‘Endured’ Perhaps ‘Led to My Hurtful Comments’
Skinner Harmer wrote in the Instagram post that she believed her comments derived from abuse she suffered as a gymnast.
“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,” she wrote.
“I take full responsibility for what I said and I deeply apologize. It is most important to me that the sport I love continue down the path of healing and ensures a positive environment for all. I wish you all the very best in Paris. I wil be cheering you all on! Go team USA,” she wrote.
Marta is a reference to former U.S. national team coordinator Martha Karolyi.
A Former Gymnast Wrote That MyKayla Skinner Harmer’s Comments Show There is a ‘Problem’ in Women’s Gymnastics
This is precisely why continued education is desperately needed. When an athlete reminisces about one of the most abusive coaches in gymnastics history, suggesting her abusive model was necessary for work ethic, we have a problem.
Rachel Denhollander, a former gymnast, wrote on X, “This is precisely why continued education is desperately needed. When an athlete reminisces about one of the most abusive coaches in gymnastics history, suggesting her abusive model was necessary for work ethic, we have a problem.” According to the Associated Press, Denhollander was one of the first gymnasts to come forward with accusations of abuse against former team doctor Larry Nasser.
She added:
When an athlete argues that abuse prevention measures like Safesport hamper potentially winning, that athlete has articulated two things:
1. Abuse might be needed to be a good athlete.
2. Winning is worth abuse.
Pare back the words, look at the ideas. She was clear.
And this apology changes none of that. An apology is being honest about what you said or did, and taking responsibility for it.
This 2nd statement does none of that. What it does do is characterize Marta Karolyi and her methods as “different”.
So let’s look at the difference-
Under Marta, athletes were routinely and intentionally starved and dehydrated, to the point that some scavenged food from leftover room service trays at competitions.
To the point that puberty was delayed, injuries catastrophic and severe eating disorders normal. Under Marta injured athletes, including with bloody compound leg fractures, were left literally crawling across the gym floor or lying with a towel covering the open wound, unable to move, for hours.
Under Marta athletes intentionally harmed themselves to try to be injured enough to avoid camp because the abuse was so severe. Under Marta athlete gym bags, luggage and even persons were searched to ensure starving children didn’t have so much as a Granola bar on them.
Under Marta, Geddert was placed as head coach in 2012. A man who literally threw his athletes into and off of apparatus, rupturing their lymph nodes, bloodying their faces, and forcing them to train through catastrophic injuries, leaving many with lifelong disability.
Under Marta, the girls were systematically isolated from parents, siblings, real medical doctors and their own coaches, leaving them vulnerable to daily abuse and starvation.
The lengthy post continued for many more paragraphs.
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Olympic Medalist MyKayla Skinner Apologizes for Trashing Fellow Gymnasts on Video