The Main Villain Of The Olympics Is From Arizona

Every good story needs a villain, right? Why follow a hero's journey if they never encounter any struggle?

Olympians are the closest thing we have to actual superheroes, so it's only fair that the athletes have an arch-nemesis, propelling them to perform better in spite of their hate.

Unfortunately for Arizona, this Olympics, the villain is one of our own.

Who is MyKayla Skinner

Skinner was born in Gilbert, Arizona in 1997. She showed gymnastic prowess early on, and began to slowly make a name for herself, first in state, and then by joining the Junior U.S. National Gymnastics team. In 2012 she missed qualification to join the Olympic team, but continued on, eventually reaching Team USA.

At the 2016 Olympic trials, she placed fourth, which designated her as an alternate. She'd finally made the Olympic team, and now it was time to work. Skinner's only starting Olympic appearance was at the Tokyo 2020 games, where she earned a silver medal in Vault. She retired afterwards to finish her degree and spend time with her family.

That's when her career started to derail.

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"Lack of Talent, Lazy Olympians"

It's hard to say where Skinner's issue came in. All we know is that, after the Olympic Qualifiers, she posted a (now deleted) video to YouTube. She discusses her distain for the current Team USA in the wake of adopting SafeSport, a program meant to limit athlete abuse. She says that the program is causing "low work ethic" and stated that the lack of aggression in the athletes will cause them to fail on the Parisian stage.

Team USA didn't like that. Not. One. Bit.

Perhaps it was the motivation by a disgruntled former teammate, or maybe Team USA is just that good, because they walked away with a dominant performance, earning the team gold. Biles seemingly took Skinner's words harsher than most, as she posted a picture of the team with their medals on Instagram, captioning it "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions".

Skinner has since profusely apologized for her comments, and while it's obvious she never meant anything harmful to the team, someone's got to play the villain.

[People]

[Simone Biles via Instagram]