There was a LOT of backlash against Biles for plain and simple racism, which included the body-shaming because she isn't a waif, likening her to an animal, calling her a loser and traitor when she refused to risk her life instead of competing.
Malinin is the blond (however much bottled) white boy whose athleticism and non-charted jumps during his step sequence appeals to the young, X-Games demographic that the ISU claims to want. You see his influence across the board, with about a flight of skaters trying four-five quads, Shaidorov doing 3/4 combos, Kagiyama trying to recover the lost all-but-Axel quads from before his injury, other skaters throwing in the same kind of jumps Malinin does in their steps/choreo steps, one of the Russian skaters landing 4A at least isolated in practice (not sure about competition). Young kids now going into skating don't think, wow, Malinin's the only one, I'll never be able to do that, but, instead, "That's excellence, possible, and something I want to do. Plus cool as f*ck."
He's a gift handed to them on a silver platter, and they are trying to shut that down.
Morons.
