Simone Biles is no stranger to scrutiny. Despite having proven herself time and time again, the 11-time Olympic medalist continues to be challenged for her status as the greatest gymnast of all time. But Biles does not back down. This time, she is defending the transgender community against conservative athlete and former swimmer Riley Gaines.
On June 7, Riley Gaines reposted Minnesota State High School League’s post introducing Champlin Park, the Class AAAA Softball State Champion for 2025, with the caption “comments off lol… To be expected when your star player is a boy.”
Comments off lol
To be expected when your star player is a boy https://t.co/2qY2onUhNW
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 6, 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
This wouldn’t be the first time that Gaines would make a transphobic remark. On June 13, the Trump supporter took to X to post “Great news! Lia Thomas won’t be able to compete in women’s category at the Olympics or any other elite competition,” going so far as to misgender the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship. Simone Biles has finally had enough.
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In response to Gaines’ post, Biles calls her “truly sick,” and a “straight up sore loser.” She alleges that Gaines’s campaigning against trans athletes is motivated by having lost a race as a former swimmer. She tied fifth with Lia Thomas in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship in 2022. Biles expresses her disdain for Gaines’ anti-trans politics loud and clear with several exclamation points: “No one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!” she posted on X.
After receiving backlash for defending transgender youth against Gaines’ targeting, Biles made a follow-up post on X apologizing to Gaines personally.
I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport. The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me…
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) June 10, 2025
In a show of grace and integrity, she wrote: “The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for.”
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In the same post, Biles clarifies why she felt the strong urge to speak up, stating that her indignation was not in favor of compromising the fairness in women’s sports. “My objection is to [singling] out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful. Individual athletes—especially kids—should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over.”
