Head coach of the Russian artistic gymnastics team, Valentina Rodionenko, has found herself in hot water after she implied that Simone Biles was undeserving of her 2023 World Championships medals.
In an interview with Match TV, Rodionenko was quoted as saying that she felt Simone Biles “has no great performance and wins only through difficulty”.
Understandably, this rubbed quite a few of Biles’ loyal fans the wrong way, with many taking to the internet to defend the Olympic gold-medalist.
One fan on X (formerly Twitter) stated that Rodionenko was being petty, and that even her best athletes couldn’t keep up with Biles.
“The difficulty is the performance. Simone Biles performs incredibly complex stunts with ease and serenity. This petty resentment is inevitable when your peers can’t keep up, unfortunately. Rodionenko’s best, doped up athlete couldn’t even DREAM of pulling off what Simone has,” they wrote.
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Another person pointed out that Velentina’s statements had racist undertones to them.
“She only wins through difficulty,” says the racist Russian. Now, if THAT ain’t the damn Black Experience, encapsulated. Keep going @Simone_Biles — we are
proud of you.
These dusty snow goblins are NOT ready for us,” they wrote.
“I waпt to express my regrets over Simoпe Biles’ victory” Valeпtiпa Rodioпeпko”I want to express my regrets over Simone Biles’ victory” Valentina Rodionenko
