Former 12-time NCAA all-American swimmer Riley Gaines is speaking out about her ‘X’ feud with Olympic gymnast Simone Biles over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
The social media argument began on Friday after Gaines called out a Minnesota high school, whose softball team won a state championship after playing with a transgender pitcher. Gaines, who noted that she was not surprised comments were turned off on the high school’s post, said, “to be expected when your star player is a boy.”
Simone Biles rebuked Gaines, saying she was “truly sick” and a “sore loser” for her comment, suggesting she should be “uplifting” transgender athletes. Biles also said Gaines should “bully someone (her) own size, which would ironically be a male.”
SIMONE BILES DOESN’T REALIZE WHAT SHE’S ADMITTING ABOUT TRANS WOMEN IN HER POSTS, RILEY GAINES SAYS
“Friday afternoon, I get a notification on my phone,” Gaines told “The Will Cain Show” on Monday. “It says, ‘Simone Biles tagged you in something on X.’ I was overwhelmed with excitement. Like, this is someone I’ve looked up to. She’s a role model for me. [I] was so excited about this until I clicked on the notification and, of course, I had to read it like five times… make sure it wasn’t a fake profile. … It has been the talk of X, really all social platforms, TikTok, Instagram, every article that has been posted. … I believe she truthfully incinerated her legacy with just two tweets this past weekend.”
The swimmer says that while Biles’ comments on her appearance did not hurt her feelings, she felt heartbroken thinking of young gymnasts, like her teen sister, who has looked up to the Olympic champion.
“That’s the people who look up to Simone. That’s the platform that she’s built and curated and developed. Those people love her,” she said. “They admire her and suddenly, again, in one tweet, and I would imagine an aim to be virtuous and inclusive and kind and compassionate, she sold out people like my younger sister. That’s how I felt. That’s what made me feel heartbroken.”
Several of Simone Biles’ teammates have reached out to Gaines amid the ‘X’ debate to share their personal support for the swimmer’s stance, she shared with Fox News.
“They believe the intention behind this is that Simone has a new docu-series coming out on Netflix,” Gaines told Fox News. “They believe it’s an attempt to put her name, her profile, her face, her image back in the public sphere, but again, I think this ultimately backfired on her.”
Ultimately, Gaines says standing up for women’s sports is not a divisive issue among everyday Americans.
“This isn’t a polarizing issue if you can remove yourself from the opinions of the elite. The people who are on the private jets, if you remove yourself from the opinion of Hollywood or elected representation, this truthfully is not a polarizing, divisive issue. It’s a unifying issue.”
