MyKayla Skinner Reflects on Former Team USA Coach’s Alleged Abuse

MyKayla Skinner stated she is “coming to phrases” with the abuse she allegedly endured underneath former Group USA coach Márta Károlyi.

“I wish to formally apologize to Group USA and to our gymnastic neighborhood for my feedback throughout my latest YouTube episodes of the gymnastics Olympic trials,” Skinner, 27, stated in an official assertion given to Us Weekly on Sunday, July 7. The retired gymnast acquired vital backlash after she criticized the work ethic of the gymnasts set to compete on the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“It was not my intention to offend or disrespect any of the athletes or to remove from their arduous work,” her assertion stated. “Your arduous work and dedication has paid off and I congratulate each considered one of you.”

Skinner continued, “Upon reflection, I used to be evaluating the ‘Márta Period’ to the present period. I’m coming to phrases that I’ve not totally handled the emotional and verbal abuse I endured underneath Marta that maybe led to my hurtful feedback. I take full duty for what I stated and I deeply apologize.”

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Skinner, like many Olympic gymnasts, was educated by Márta, former nationwide workforce coordinator for USA Gymnastics, and her husband, Béla Károlyi, identified for his or her strict guidelines with their athletes. Marta’s alleged practices, particularly, have been highlighted in an exposé printed by the Related Press in 2018.

“It’s most essential to me that the game I like proceed down the trail of therapeutic and ensures a optimistic atmosphere for all,” Skinner’s assertion to Us concluded. “I want you all the perfect in Paris. I will probably be cheering you all on! Go Group USA!“

Us has reached out to USA Gymnastics for remark.

The retired gymnast and Olympian’s formal apology comes after she criticized the work ethic of the present gymnasts representing Group USA on the 2024 Olympic Trials in Paris.

In a YouTube video shared in June, Skinner, who beforehand competed in each the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, stated, “Moreover Simone [Biles], I really feel just like the expertise and the depth simply isn’t what it was. I imply, clearly, quite a lot of women don’t work as arduous. The women simply don’t have the work ethic.” (The 2024 ladies’s Olympic gymnastics workforce contains Biles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Hezly Rivera.)

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On the time, she went on to say that, on account of SafeSport, coaches now “can’t get on athletes which in some methods is de facto good however on the identical time, to get to the place you want to be in gymnastics you do need to be a little bit aggressive, a little bit intense.” The U.S. Middle for SafeSport is an impartial group responding “to sexual, bodily, and emotional abuse” within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic motion.

Skinner beforehand apologized for her feedback earlier in July, clarifying that she wasn’t “sticking up for Marta or saying what she did was good,” however was solely making a comparability.

“It was extra about going again into my very own health club and the work ethic is completely different in comparison with once we have been doing gymnastics within the Marta period,” she stated. “I’m simply saying it was completely different. So sorry for something that acquired out of context or appeared hurtful; I like these women and I’m significantly so blissful for them so I might by no means do something to make them really feel in any other case.”

The coaching strategies of the Károlyis have lengthy been denounced by gymnasts, together with Olympian Dominique Moceanu, who not too long ago criticized her former coaches and praised present Group USA for prioritizing the well-being of their athletes.

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“As somebody who was straight coached by Béla & Marta Károlyi, who started their teaching careers within the U.S. in 1981, I skilled the depth & calls for of their decades-long affect firsthand,” Moceanu, 42, wrote by way of X on Thursday, July 4. (Moceanu competed within the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.)

​​“As we transition from the Károlyi period to prioritizing well-being over medals, particularly throughout this time of reflection on our nation’s independence, we should proceed with care,” Moceanu stated, including that “this shift is important” to “assist athletes’ well being whereas nurturing their aggressive spirit.”