Simone Biles: 'Important' for Me to Back USA Teammates amid MyKayla Skinner Drama

Simone Biles took her role as the leader of Team USA's women's gymnastics team at the 2024 Olympics seriously.

Speaking to Lindsay Kimble and Julie Mazziotta of PEOPLE, Biles explained it was "important" for her to use her voice to teach her teammates how they can use their own in a positive manner or to speak up for those who don't feel comfortable doing so.

"It's important because you have to teach them to use their voices," Biles said. "And if not, you're a voice for the voiceless, which is okay. ... I just felt like it was right in that moment to stand up for them, because they're so young and they haven't fully stood in their power yet."

Biles has used her voice in many ways at these Olympics, including an apparent response to former teammate MyKayla Skinner over controversial comments she made about the 2024 U.S. gymnastics squad.

In a since-deleted YouTube video (h/t Jessica Boehm of Axios), Skinner said the group lacked "talent" and "depth" and didn't "have the work ethic" of previous teams.

After the U.S. won gold in the team all-around, Biles posted a picture on Instagram of the group celebrating with the American flag and captioned it "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions" with a heart and medal emoji.

Biles also seemed to indicate on X that she had been blocked on social media by Skinner.

Skinner did issue an apology for her original comments with a statement posted to her Instagram on July 6.

Skinner was an alternate on the 2016 Olympic team and made the 2020 roster. She won silver on the vault in Tokyo after replacing Biles, who withdrew from the event to address her mental health.

Biles won four medals—three gold and one silver—at the Paris Games. Her 11 career Olympic medals are the most ever for a U.S. gymnast.

Skinner retired from competition after the 2020 Olympics.