Simone Biles took former U.S. NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines to task 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 high school softball player.
Gaines earlier quoted a tweet from the Minnesota State High School League, which celebrated “Champlin Park, the Class AAAA Softball State Champion for 2025.”
@Riley_Gaines_ You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. 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. Maybe a transgender… https://t.co/pjpzuZ0AlO
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) June 6, 2025
“Comments off lol,” sniped Gaines. “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”
That’s when Biles backflipped in to call out Gaines for “campaigning because you lost a race,” referring to a 2022 NCAA swimming event in which Gaines competed against 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!!!!!”
Though Gaines admitted she was disappointed by Biles’ response, she came back 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 said. “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 just over a year after several college athletes, including Gaines, filed a lawsuit accusing the NCAA of violating Title IX by allowing Lia Thomas to compete in the 2022 swimming national championships in Atlanta. Thomas and Gaines tied for fifth-place during the 200-yard final, though the former ultimately secured the trophy.
