Olympian Suni Lee Calls Out MyKayla Skinner's "Put Down" to Gymnastics Team

Olympian Suni Lee is responding to MyKayla Skinner’s criticism following the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Suni—who won two individual bronze medals and took home gold in the team all-around alongside Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Hezly Rivera—shared her thoughts on her former teammate’s since-deleted YouTube video criticizing the gymnasts for lacking “work ethic.”

"We have a lot of love for her,” Suni told Glamour in an interview published Oct. 3. “It’s frustrating to see her put us down because she knows, basically, about every single thing that we’ve all been through.”

And the 21-year-old—who battled two forms of kidney disease ahead of the 2024 Games that resulted in her body swelling and gaining 45 pounds “in a span of two weeks”—added, “It was more annoying because of all the things that I’ve been through."

Back in July, MyKayla said in a YouTube video that “the talent and the depth just isn't like what it used to be” and that “a lot of girls don't work as hard” compared to her time competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics. MyKayla also commented on what she sees as difficulties as a result of SafeSport, a nonprofit organization created in order to help end abuse in athletics.

“Coaches can't get on athletes and they have to be really careful what they say,” she said. “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."

During the Paris Games, Simone who seemed to clap back at MyKayla by referring to her own team as “lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions" in an Instagram post celebrating their gold medal win.

And for Simone, speaking up to defend yourself is a crucial lesson to pass on to fellow gymnasts.

"It's important because you have to teach them to use their voices,” Simone told People in an article published Aug. 6. "And if not, you're a voice for the voiceless, which is OK."

Look back on the best moments from the 2024 Paris Olympics.

After notching a gold in 1500m freestyle, a silver in 4x200 freestyle relay and a bronze in 400m freestyle at the Paris Games, the American swimmer became the most decorated female Olympian in U.S. history.

With a career total of 13 medals, she is also the most decorated female swimmer in Olympic history.

Marchand Mania was at an all-time high during the men's 200m breaststroke final, when the French swimmer set an Olympic record of 2:05.85. The impressive time snagged Marchand his third gold medal at the Paris Games.

By winning a gold medal in K1, the canoeist became the first Australian athlete to win four consecutive Olympic medals in the same event—having taken home bronze at Tokyo 2020 and at Rio de Janeiro 2016, as well as silver in London 2012.

Her C1 gold medal victory three days later made her the most-decorated Olympic slalom paddler in the world.

The Chinese swimmer set a new world record in men's 100m freestyle with a gold medal-worthy time of 46.40 seconds, a full four tenths from his previous record.

After braving the Seine, as well as streets of Paris on bike and foot, the Olympian claimed France's first gold medal in triathlon with a time of 1:54:55.

Once an aspiring Olympic gymnast, the sports shooter notched Guatemala's first-ever gold medal when she scored 45 points in the women's trap event.

The Brazilian surfer set a new Olympic record—and went viral with this photo—when he came out of a huge barrel wave with a 9.90, the highest single-wave score in the sport since surfing made its debut at 2020 Tokyo Games.

With his golden win in the men's park final, this BMX rider from Argentina rode his way into the history books by scoring the country's first individual medal in the sport of cycling.

In addition, his medal was Argentina's first in the 2024 Paris Olympics and the nation's first gold in any sport since 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

She really is the GOAT! Biles became the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast in history after winning her eighth medal—her fifth gold—at the women's gymnastics team all-around final.

Biles went on to win another gold in the individual all-around event.

But Biles wasn't the only gymnast who made history at the women's all-around final: Angela Andreoli, Alice D'Amato, Manila Esposito, Elisa Iorio, Giorgia Villa nabbed Team Italy its first medal in the event since 1928 with their silver win.

Rebeca Andrade, Jade Barbosa, Lorrane Oliveira, Flavia Saraiva and Julia Soares also made history on the podium, winning a bronze for Team Brazil's first-ever medal in women's gymnastics team all-around.

Just three days into the Paris Games, the sharpshooter entered the history books as the first Indian athlete to win multiple medals in a single edition of the Olympics since the nation gained independence in 1947.

She notched a bronze in the women's 10m air pistol—making her the first female shooter from India to win a medal at any Olympics—before landing another bronze alongside teammate Sarabjot Singh in the 10m air rifle, the country's first-ever shooting team medal.

With eight seconds left on the clock, Alex Sedrick caught a pass and scored as time ran out, leading to a conversion that resulted in a 14-12 game against Australia. 

The dramatic victory gave the Women's Eagles a bronze, Team USA's first-ever Olympic medal in the rugby.

The Olympian made history as the first Romanian man to win a gold medal for swimming when he took home the top prize in the 200m freestyle event.

Just call it an American victory story! In scoring a bronze on July 29, the Team USA swimmer became the first man to win a 100m backstroke medal in three consecutive Olympics since 1972.

The prize was the latest addition to his already-impressive medal collection, which includes a bronze from Tokyo 2020 and a gold from the Rio de Janeiro Games 2016 for the same event.

The Australian swimmer set an Olympic record with a time of 1:53.27 in women’s 200m freestyle, beating out defending champ and teammate Ariarne Titmus for the gold.

No other gymnast except Simone Biles has ever performed a double layout with a half-twist—a difficult move aptly dubbed "Biles I"—at the Olympics until Heron came along.

The Panamanian athlete successfully landed it while competing against the stunt's namesake during the gymnastics qualifier.

Team Canada scored its first gold medal in judo thanks to Deguchi, who defeated Republic of Korea's Huh Mimi in a heated July 29 match.

In her first-ever Summer Games, the American swimmer broke the Olympic record in the 100m butterfly semifinal with a time of 55.38 seconds.

South Sudan—the youngest country in the world—made its Olympics debut on July 28, with their men's basketball team playing against Puerto Rico.

The South Sudan Bright Stars won their first-ever Olympic game with a final score of 90-79.

The sharpshooter made Olympic history as the world's first and only athlete to compete in 10 consecutive Summer Games when she pulled the trigger at the women's 10m air pistol qualifers on July 27.

The three-time medalist made her Olympic debut back at 1988 Seoul.

For the first time in Olympic history, Jordan was represented in men's gymnastic when Abu Al-Soud competed on the pommel horse. He finished with a score of 12.466 during the qualification round.

Syria also saw its first male gymnast compete in the Olympics during the Paris Summer Games, with Najjar raising the bar in the all-around event.

Stephen Nedoroscik, Frederick Richard, Brody Malone, Paul Juda and Asher Hong won Team USA's first medal in men's gymnastics in 16 years, earning a bronze.

The basketball player made history as the first Black flagbearer for Greece during the Opening Ceremony.

The track and field star, who turned 16 in January, "etched his name" in history, according to Team USA, when he became the youngest male athlete to make 4x400m relay squad.

As for the youngest athlete in any sport to make Team USA? That'll be Rivera, who turned 16 just weeks before she was selected to join the women's gymnastics team. 

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