Olympic champion Simone Biles called fellow female athlete Riley Gaines “sick” for her activism against trans athletes in women’s sports.
As – News reported this week, a transgender athlete helped a Minnesota high school girls’ softball team advance to the state championship after a standout performance, including two double hits while pitching a perfect game without substitution. The player, Marissa Rothenberger, had reportedly “been dominating Minnesota softball all season and “and brought “Champlin Park High’s girls’ softball team out of obscurity, where it has always been in the past.”
On Friday, swimmer Riley Gaines, who became an activist for women’s sports after being forced to compete with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship, responded to the controversy when the official X account for the Minnesota State High School League celebrated the Champlin Park girls team in a post that limited replies as a possible attempt to ward off criticism.
“Comments off lol,” said Gaines as she reposted the team photo. “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”
Simone Biles later responded by calling Gaines a “bully” and a “sore loser” while demanding she fight for sports to be more inclusive.
“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser,” she said. “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!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”
Riley Gaines called Biles’ attack “disappointing.”
“This is actually so disappointing. It’s not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. 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,” she responded.
Biles then personally attacked Riley Gaines for her looks and body type.
“Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male,” posted Biles.
Neither of Biles’ posts was well-received by self-described fans of hers, with many accusing the Olympic gold medalist of essentially pulling the ladder up behind her by advocating for men in women’s sports just after retiring. Others accused her of body-shaming Riley Gaines and insulting girls with certain body types and physiques. Responses were overwhelmingly negative from people of various political persuasions, with supporters being few and far between. Activist Sall Grover noted, for instance, that the Swimming World Cup created a category for transgender athletes but was forced to cancel after no entries were received.
Biles did not go so far as to advocate for men competing against women. When one commenter said, “There is a reason they have rings in men’s gymnastics, and not women’s,” Biles then told them to use their “comprehension skills.”
“Can you even read? I see we are lacking comprehension skills as well…..” Biles wrote.
Despite that, many users took it to mean Biles either supports men participating in women’s sports or has at least morally and emotionally detached herself from the issue.
Americans overwhelmingly support keeping men out of women’s sports by a sizable majority that has only grown in recent years, according to the latest polls.
“A recent New York Times/Ipsos poll that found 79 percent of Americans believe trans athletes should not be allowed to participate in women’s athletics,” noted The Hill earlier this year.
