‘Truly sick’: Superstar Olympian picks a fight with Riley Gaines

Olympic gymnastics icon Simone Biles called out former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) swimmer Riley Gaines for her vocal opposition to allowing males who identify as females to compete in women’s sports.

Gaines shared a comment regarding Champlin Park’s Class AAAA Softball State Champion for 2025, with a clear implication that the star player was male.

Comments off lol

To be expected when your star player is a boy https://t.co/2qY2onUhNW

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 6, 2025

Biles responded and said that this perspective fosters division and harms the transgender community, with some calling it a form of “bullying” instead of supporting inclusivity.

@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

“@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 category IN ALL sports!!” Biles wrote. “But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”

Gaines has become a leading advocate for protecting women’s sports from the inclusion of men who identify as women. She intensified her activism after competing against Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, in the 2022 NCAA championships, arguing that men who identify as women have a physiological advantage over women who were born female.

Gaines has taken legal action, joining 15 other female athletes in a lawsuit against the NCAA, saying its policies violate Title IX by allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.

“We’re not just fighting for ourselves. We’re fighting for every young girl who dreams of competing in sports,” Gaines said.

Earlier in February, the Department of Education under President Donald Trump directed the NCAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations to revoke women’s titles and records from transgender athletes like Thomas. This action follows an executive order banning biological men from competing in women’s sports at both the collegiate and high school levels. After Trump signed the executive order, the NCAA updated its policy to bar biological men from competing in women’s sports.

President Trump’s executive order banning biological men from women’s sports countered former President Joe Biden’s Department of Education proposal to expand Title IX protections based on gender identity. Biden’s proposed rule aimed to allow gender identity to determine access to single-sex spaces and sports teams, requiring schools to consider fairness and injury prevention in their policies.