Topline
Olympic gymnast Simone Biles apologized to former collegiate swimmer and right-wing activist Riley Gaines on Tuesday for a personal comment she made as the two argued over a championship-winning high school softball player last weekend, though Biles maintained children “should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over.”
TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 27: Simone Biles of Team United States looks on during the Women's Team Final on ... More
Biles, who blasted Gaines for calling the trans softball player a boy and told her to “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male,” said in her apology “it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for.”
Biles said in her apology she was “not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports” after telling Gaines on Saturday she should be “finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports.”
“My objection is to be singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful,” Biles said.
Gaines accepted Biles’ apology in a post Tuesday, saying Biles knows what being body-shamed feels like and that she is “still the greatest female gymnast of all time.”
Gaines added sports are inclusive by nature but said competition is exclusive, “So the idea of ‘competitive equity’ is nonsensical.”
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here.
The spat between Biles and Gaines began after Gaines noted the Minnesota State High School League removed comments from an X post showing the team that won the state’s softball championship. Gaines said the removed comments were to “be expected when your star player is a boy.” Biles called Gaines “truly sick” and said the activist’s larger-scale campaigning against transgender athletes was because she lost a race in college—a reference to Gaines’ fifth-place tie with trans swimmer Lia Thomas in an NCAA championship event in 2022. Gaines said it was not her job or the job of any woman “to figure out how to include men in our spaces.” She also made a comparison between Biles “when she had to endure a predatory man,” showing a clip of her testimony on convicted mass sexual abuser Larry Nassar, and Biles “when other girls have to endure predatory men,” showing her tweet defending the trans softball player.
Gaines, who was a 12-time All-American swimmer for the University of Kentucky, became a right-wing activist following her tie with Thomas, which eventually led her to suing the NCAA over allegations it violated her civil rights by allowing Thomas to compete. The lawsuit has not yet been resolved. Gaines is one of the most vocal supporters of President Donald Trump’s agenda against transgender athletes. The president signed an executive order in February banning trans athletes from women’s sports at all levels and threatening to pull federal funding from schools allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s categories. There are fewer than 10 transgender athletes within the NCAA’s roughly 530,000 student-athlete roster, according to Senate testimony given by NCAA president Charlie Baker last year.
Simone Biles Tells Riley Gaines She’s ‘Sick’ In Spat Over Trans Softball Champion (Forbes)