MyKayla Skinner can’t be ignored — LSU scoring drama

Before I dive into the week’s news, a programming note: next month, Gymnastics Saturday will become Olympics Saturday! In lieu of the standard gymnastics newsletter, I will be covering the Milan Winter Olympics each Saturday here at The IX. Tune in for a complete guide to the XXV Winter Olympiad, the most important developments and the week ahead (women’s sports only, to be clear). Fear not, Gymnastics Saturday fans — I will try to include quick hits from the gym world in each newsletter. I hope you enjoy the change of pace (and figure skating!).

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During yet another week that contained a year’s worth of news, MyKayla Skinner decided to open her mouth again. 

A day before the the U.S. Supreme Court began arguments over two cases involving state restrictions on transgender athletes competing in sports, Skinner spoke at a Republican Attorneys General Association press conference to share what this topic means to her. It aired on local FOX stations as well as C-SPAN 2.

I haven’t seen much chatter about this on the gymternet. Perhaps it’s because without Twitter, we’re all scattered to the wind now. But based on one Reddit post, it appears that many people are choosing to ignore her for fear of feeding the trolls.

I hear that. Skinner seems to have joined this fight in an effort to stay relevant, and the fallout from last year’s feud with Simone Biles was positive reinforcement. She’s also an easy target — someone who’s clearly not educated on the issues but talks about them anyway.

I think the toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube, and silence allows Skinner a platform to leverage her accomplishments in gymnastics to spread transphobic rhetoric at this pivotal moment in history.

If you don’t want to watch the video (a choice I fully support; it took me several tries), I’ve got the highlights for you: Skinner tells the story of her career, beginning with her disappointment at being left off the 2016 Olympic team despite having “qualified.” She wants to protect women’s sports from men, and says the reason women don’t compete on rings is because men are stronger. Skinner claims a man won gold in women’s boxing at the last Olympics, and that “athletes get hurt every day.” Finally, she talks about the importance of “Title IX,” which she pronounces as letters, not a number, as if it’s the first she’s heard of it and someone wrote it for her on a cue card.

There’s a lot to unpack here. First and foremost, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Skinner has no personal experience with this topic — no, having a daughter doesn’t count — and can’t make an intelligent argument about it. Her statement is filled with flat-out lies — one cannot qualify to the U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team, women actually used to compete in rings at the Olympics (and still do in gyms!), and a man did not win the women’s boxing gold at the last Olympics. It’s true that “athletes get hurt every day,” just not in the way she seems to think.

There are good faith conversations to be had about inclusivity in elite women’s sports. But Skinner’s comments are not made in good faith. They are prejudice disguised as concern, as well as a thinly veiled attempt to stay relevant (and, strangely, sell transphobia-branded activewear) post-Olympics. Like Nastia Liukin, who recently appeared on stage with a president who mispronounced her name (yup, Nastia, we saw the clip, everyone saw it), Skinner is using gymnastics to take advantage of a very scary time for anyone whose identity doesn’t fit a certain criteria. Silence ensures her arguments, flawed as they are, will be all that people hear.

For some good news, check out Will Graves’ AP piece from last year on how the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs tries to create safe spaces for trans gymnasts, and what gymnastics means to a few of those athletes. 

Also:

• Sign the pledge to make sports inclusive, at Athlete Ally.
• Here’s a list of queer-friendly hockey programs and leagues from our friends at The Ice Garden. 
• Check out the ACLU’s More Than A Game campaign.

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NCAA gym news

1. Florida 197.725
2. LSU 197.500
3. Oklahoma 197.500
4. Alabama 197.475
5. Michigan 197.225

Yesterday: Alabama at Florida, LSU at Georgia, Arizona State at Kentucky, Oklahoma at Missouri
Tonight: Michigan State at Iowa, Michigan at Minnesota, Nebraska at UCLA
Sunday: Stanford at North Carolina, Auburn at Arkansas

Full standings and schedule at Road to Nationals, and CollegeGymNews has a recap here. There was some controversy in Week 2 with Jay Clark’s enthusiastic chat with a referee over Lexi Zeiss’ beam score — you can join the conversation about it in this Reddit thread. The routine of the week goes to Utah’s Avery Neff, who scored the first 10 of the season with this beautiful Yurchenko 1.5:

Week 2 leotards. Since no one asked, I’m not thrilled with any of them. LESS IS MORE, PEOPLE.

Five at the IX

Here’s Jay Clark in a press conference ahead of LSU’s meet with Georgia; he explains the scoring issue with Lexi Zeiss’ routine around 3:20.