Over the weekend, two notable female athletes sparred on social media over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
The heated exchange between Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and former NCAA swimmer-turned-conservative commentator Riley Gaines captured significant attention.
Gaines, who became an activist after speaking out about her experience as a collegiate swimmer competing against transgender athlete Lia Thomas back in 2023, has become the face of the initiative to bar transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Over the weekend Gaines remarked on a social media post of a Minnesota girls high school softball team that included a transgender player, which turned off comments on its post about winning the state championship.
Biles responded to the post, snapping back at Gaines’ criticism.
“You’re truly sick,” Biles said, “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 category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!“
Biles then proceeded to attack Gaines’ body, telling her to “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”
Gaines responded both on X and in her podcast, “Gaines for Girls,” saying she believed that Biles “tarnished” her own reputation because of her stance and how she went about it.
Gaines also didn’t let slide that she herself is around 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds. “How absurd it is to have a woman commenting on another woman’s body, especially when it’s Simone Biles. A woman who has, I mean, over the years, historically, been scrutinized for her stature, for her build,” Gaines said on her podcast.
Gaines claimed that Biles’ comments were hypocritical and reposted a video of the Olympic gymnast in a body positivity campaign, and a 2017 comment she made about being grateful she didn’t have to compete against a male gymnast.
But where some believe Gaines took it too far was in her comments regarding convicted sex offender Larry Nassar.
ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith said in his show on Monday that he agreed with Gaines in the feud until she brought up Nassar, the disgraced U.S. gymnastics team doctor.
“Respectfully, that’s going a bit too far,” Smith said. “Talking about transgender women in sports is one issue, using a guy like Larry Nassar, one of the most despicable human beings we’ve ever witnessed on this earth who molested and abused numerous women, numerous gymnasts, including Biles. To go that low, Gaines, you lost all credibility.”
“The points that you made to Simone Biles outside of the Larry Nassar comment, that should give us all cause to pause,” he added. “The reality is that it is a disservice to women in a lot of people’s eyes that men transitioning to women get to compete in women’s sports.”
”There are an abundance of women out there who have a right to feel the way that Riley Gaines feels, Simone Biles."
On Tuesday, Biles finally broke her silence and commented on the issue once again.
“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 to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for. These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don’t have the answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect,” Biles said, continuing to say that more needs to be done so that “sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition.”
Others, including former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, remarked on the controversy.
“This issue has a shelf life. I truly believe common sense will prevail,” Patrick said over the weekend, per the New York Post. “But until then, I am grateful for people like Riley Gaines who are making sure no one gets away with it. Not to mention the fact that she actually lived it.”
Conservative commentator Sage Steele spoke directly to Biles in a post on X, accusing the legendary gymnast of not having a legitimate argument because she never had to compete against a biological man like Gaines did.
“Every one of your Olympic medals came competing against fellow women,” Steele said.