Simone Biles apologizes to Riley Gaines for 'personal' attack but still falls short of admitting the obvious

Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles walked back her "personal" attacks against former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines for her activism to keep women's sports for women only.

Biles called Gaines "truly sick" and a "sore loser" over her advocacy and said the former college athlete should be uplifting the "trans community" and trying to make sports more "inclusive."

'I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women's sports.'

The backlash against Biles was nearly limitless across the internet, including on her social media pages, which may have been the catalyst for the gymnast's latest comments.

Biles returned to her X account to follow up on her remarks four days after the fact but fell short of stating men should not be able to participate in women's sports.

"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," Biles, 28, wrote.

Without directly calling out the issue of transgender athletes, Biles referred to "sensitive, complicated issues" that she does not "have the answers or solutions" for.

RELATED: 'She's never had to compete against a man': Female athletes respond to Simone Biles' pro-trans rant

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The seven-time Olympic gold medalist explained she was not "advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women's sports," but she did not say that men — or transgender women — should be barred from women's competitions, either. Instead, Biles focused on protecting children from public scrutiny, an idea she did not mention in her previous remarks from days prior.

"Individual athletes — especially kids — should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over," Biles continued. "I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition. We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful."

In response, Gaines said that while she accepted the apology, she thought Biles' idea of competitive equity "nonsensical."

"The boys are publicly humiliating the girls. To suggest that women and girls must be silent or ignore a boy who is PUBLICLY hurting or humiliating them is wrong," Gaines continued. "You can't have any empathy and compassion for the girls if you're ignoring when young men are harming or abusing them."

Gaines still noted she has not seen the gymnast "championing this effort" to keep men out of women's competitions but would welcome Biles in the fight to "support fair sports."

RELATED: USA Today obliterated online over bizarre claim about transgender athletes

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Biles' new comments drew plenty of reactions from athletes who have been directly impacted by men in women's sports, including those who commented on her statements from last Friday.

"Damage control time," wrote Taylor Silverman in a post on X. Silverman is a skateboarder who lost to a male in a women's competition.

"Here comes the woke mob. When you try to please everyone out of fear it makes you look worse. A swing and a miss from your PR team," she added in another post.

Paula Scanlan, who swam on the same team as infamous transgender athlete Lia (William) Thomas, replied to Biles on X: "Empathy and respect apparently involves making fun of someone for their looks. got it."

Scanlan was referring to Biles' prior comments, saying Gaines should "bully" someone her own size, which "would ironically be a male."

Overall, the predominant theme in the replies to Biles' post was that the new comments did not seem sincere, with many alleging they could have been carefully crafted by a public relations team.

For example, Fearless contributor Jason Whitlock asked, "Who wrote this? It took 48 hours to write this?"

Representatives for Biles did not respond to prior requests for comment or to an updated request regarding her latest remarks.

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