Although MyKayla Skinner retracted her comments, later stating that she had no intention of disrespecting any of the women competing for the United States in Paris, the criticism has been relentless in recent days.

The silver medal-winning gymnast at the last Olympics has been criticised for a YouTube video in which she said the US SafeSport Centre was making it difficult for coaches to do their jobs for fear of false allegations.

Although the video was taken down, the criticism has not stopped. In the video, the Gilbert, Arizona, native said that "coaches can't push athletes" for fear of being reported to SafeSport, an independent body that handles abuse allegations from various governing bodies of the US Olympic movement.

"(Coaches) have to be really careful about what they say, which in some ways is really good, but at the same time, to get where you need to be in gymnastics, you have to be ... a little aggressive and a little intense," Skinner said.

In addition to this criticism of SafeSport, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic vault silver medallist was outspoken about her thoughts on the team's talent level, and star and team leader Simone Biles responded on social media.

"Other than Simone, I feel like the talent and the depth just isn't what it used to be. I mean, obviously the girls aren't working as hard. The girls just don't have the work ethic," the 27-year-old former gymnast said.

The silver medallist also hinted that she could have been part of the Olympic team after seeing three girls suffer devastating injuries during the trials: Skye Blakely, Shilese Jones and Kayla DiCello. They were replaced by Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and 16-year-old Hezly Rivera, who joined Biles on the final roster.

Angered by the disrespect shown to her teammates, Biles fired back. Without naming Skinner, she made a viral post on Threads, but everyone knew who she was talking about as Biles' message hinted at Skinner's troubled past. "Not everyone needs a microphone and a platform," Biles wrote in the post.

Feeling the pressure from Biles, Skinner then retracted her comments, writing on Instagram that it was not her intention to "offend or disrespect any of the athletes or take away from their hard work". She also posted about the emotional and verbal abuse she experienced while training under former US national team coordinator Martha Karolyi.

Skinner previously told the Associated Press that she was "scared" to return to the national team in 2019 after competing at Utah, despite Karolyi no longer being part of the programme following the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.

"I'm not defending Martha or saying what she did was okay," Skinner continued. "I'm just saying it was different. Anyway, I apologise for anything that was taken out of context or seemed hurtful," the athlete concluded after days in the eye of the storm.