Simone Biles took aim at former U.S. NCAA swimmer turned conservative pundit Riley Gaines on Friday over the latter’s recent comments advocating for the exclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Gaines was among more than a dozen college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in March 2024, accusing it of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas to compete at the national championships in 2022. In that championship, Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth but only Thomas was handed the fifth-place trophy in the 200-yard final. Since then, Gaines has become an activist staunchly opposed to having transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Recently, Gaines’ commentary has also included spotlighting and, in some cases, vilifying transgender youth for their involvement in women’s and girls’ sports. On Friday, she targeted the Minnesota State High School League for not allowing comments on their post about the Chaplin Park girls’ team celebrating the state championships. Chaplin Park’s team includes a trans-athlete.
“Comments off lol,” Gaines commented in a post on X. “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”
Biles, an outspoken campaigner for mental health awareness throughout her career, quickly criticized Gaines’ comments on social media.
“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,” Biles said, referencing Gaines’ fifth-place finish.
“Straight up sore loser. 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,” Biles continued. “Instead…you bully them. One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!”
She added: “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”
Gaines responded to Biles in follow-up posts, saying the seven-time gold medalist’s stance on transgender athletes was “so disappointing” and labeled her a “male-apologist at the expense of young girls’ dreams.”
The former swimmer insinuated that Biles should participate in men’s gymnastics due to her viewpoints.
“Maybe she could compete in pommel horse and rings in 2028,” Gaines said.
Gaines also brought up Larry Nassar, a former national team doctor who sexually abused multiple U.S. gymnasts, including Biles, under the guise of medical treatment.
“All the horrific sexual abuse @Simone_Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man’s feelings. You know how many gold medals you’d have if your ‘inclusive’ dream came true? Zero,” she wrote.
Lucia Suarez Sang is an associate managing editor at CBSNews.com. Previously, Lucia was the director of digital content at FOX61 News in Connecticut and has previously written for outlets including FoxNews.com, Fox News Latino and the Rutland Herald.
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