Female Athletes Fight It Out on X Over Men in Women’s Sports

Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles took to X Tuesday to apologize to fellow athlete Riley Gaines after an online dispute the two had over allowing men to compete in women’s sports.

“I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity and 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,” Biles wrote.

Megan Basham, reporter for the Daily Wire, commented on Biles’ apology: “It’s too late. It is the tweets, not the carefully crafted PR statement, that everyone is going to remember. And that in the moment when little girls needed courage from the women who went before them, you massively let them down.”

Gaines replied to Biles on X, saying that she accepted her apology and agreed with Biles that the “blame is on the lawmakers,” which, she then went on to say, is why she supports President Donald Trump in his efforts to keep men out of women’s sports. “I didn’t see you there or championing this effort with your platform,” said Gaines, referring to her own presence at the signing of Trump’s executive order to protect female athletes.

Gaines also said, “Sports ARE inclusive by nature. Anyone can and everyone SHOULD play sports. Competition, on the other hand and by definition, is exclusive. So, the idea of ‘competitive equity’ is nonsensical.”

The controversy started when Biles, the most decorated Olympic gymnast in history, got into a spat with Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer and now an advocate for women’s and girls single-sex sports, over a post Gaines made on X on June 6.

Gaines took to X to repost about a Minnesota high school girls softball team that has a transgender-identifying team member. She commented on the post, saying that she was not surprised the comments on the original post were turned off “when your star player is a boy.”

Biles posted in reaction to Gaines, saying, “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!! But instead … You bully them … One thing’s for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”

She continued, “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”

Gaines replied to Biles, writing, “This is so disappointing. My take is the least controversial take on the planet. Simone Biles being a male apologist at the expense of young girls’ dreams? Didn’t have that on my bingo card.”

Gaines also called out Biles seeming double standard: “All the horrific sexual abuse @Simone_Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet [she] believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man’s feelings.”

Gaines was likely referring to the case of Larry Nassar, the former Team USA gymnastics doctor who abused Biles as well as hundreds of other female athletes.

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