Simone Biles took former U.S. NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines to process on Friday, after the now-conservative activist “bullied” a transgender teen athlete.
On X, the Olympic gold medalist, 28, dubbed 25-year-old Gaines “truly sick” and a “sore loser” after Gaines misgendered a highschool softball participant.
Gaines earlier quoted a tweet from the Minnesota State Excessive College League, which celebrated “Champlin Park, the Class AAAA Softball State Champion for 2025.”
“Comments off lol,” sniped Gaines. “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”
That’s when Biles backflipped in to name out Gaines for “campaigning because you lost a race,” referring to a 2022 NCAA swimming occasion through which Gaines competed towards trans athlete Lia Thomas.
“You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!” Biles continued. “But instead… You bully them… One thing for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”
Although Gaines admitted she was disenchanted by Biles’ response, she got here again swinging, calling the gymnast a “male-apologist at the expense of young girls’ dreams.”
“It’s not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces,” she mentioned. “You can uplift men stealing championships in women’s sports with YOUR platform. Men don’t belong in women’s sports and I say that with my full chest.”
The digital back-and-forth comes simply over a yr after a number of faculty athletes, together with Gaines, filed a lawsuit accusing the NCAA of violating Title IX by permitting Lia Thomas to compete within the 2022 swimming nationwide championships in Atlanta. Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth-place throughout the 200-yard ultimate, although the previous finally secured the trophy.
