Riley Gaines Claps Back at Simone Biles with Series of Explosive Comments Over Trans Athlete Fiasco

After Simone Biles called Riley Gaines out for her criticism of a trans high school softball athlete, the latter unleashed a barrage of comments calling the former out.

Riley Gaines Claps Back at Simone Biles with Series of Explosive Comments Over Trans Athlete Fiasco

Simone Biles and Riley Gaines (Images via Open Source)

Simone Biles is an expert at jumping over hurdles, she’s so good at it that the Olympian has seven gold medals for her elite gymnastic moves. However, this time Simone Biles faces a hurdle by the name of Riley Gaines. The former NCAA swimmer who has become a vocal advocate for the removal of transgender girls and women from cisgender sports lashed out at a high school softball team.

The issue involved Chaplin Park High School’s girls’ team, which included a transgender girl. After winning 6-0 in the Minnesota State High School League softball final, the league posted a team photo with the trophy on X but disabled comments to shield the players from negativity.

Gaines reposted the image and expressed little surprise over why the league had opted to do so. She stated that such behavior was to “be expected when your star player is a boy.” This is where the spat began as Simone Biles responded to her post a few hours later, and called her “truly sick” for putting down transgender athletes. Biles dubbed Gaines a “sore loser” who had never gotten over her 2022 loss to trans swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA Freestyle Championship.

Simone Biles further vouched for the trans community, and advised Riley that her focus should be on “uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports.” Biles hoped that Gaines would be better off in ensuring a separate class was created for transgender athletes to ensure they, too, get an opportunity to compete.

This response from Biles went viral. Media outlets reported this news differently, with some siding with Biles and some with Gaines. However, when legacy media outlet USA Today’s reputed journalist Nancy Armour shared her opinion on this subject and sided with Biles, Riley Gaines went on to target the article, which is titled as follows:

“Simone Biles shows her greatness again in standing up for transgender community.”

Riley Gaines is baffled at the claims that there is no difference between cisgender female athletes and transgender women athletes

Gaines wasted no time in responding to the article. She reposted it on her X account and shared her unfiltered thoughts on it.

“She hardly “stood up for the trans community”, but instead just personally attacked someone who stands up for women and girls. Prepare for an astronomically embarrassing ratio.”

The article hailed Biles as an upholder of the rights of transgender athletes. It further termed Gaines as “a MAGA media darling,” who “punches down on others.” It also calls Gaines out for being a “keyboard warrior” who completely overlooked the positive statements by the transgender athlete’s coaches. The staff had backed the student up by stating that her teammates “love having her out there” as she is a “great kid and great teammate.”

Riley Gaines Donald Trump
Riley Gaines watches on as President Trump announces his bill to ban transgender women and girls from competing in cisgender women and girls’ sports (Image via Associated Press)

The part that did not sit well with Riley Gaines, however, was the claim that there was no difference between female cisgender athletes and female transgender athletes.

“USA Today says there is no scientific evidence that men have a physical advantage over women. I cannot understand for the life of me why they didn’t try to quietly leave this issue in 2024. But by all means, continue on…”

Gaines tweeted. The article contained a hyperlink to Nancy Armour’s article posted on 12.26.24, which questioned the LPGA and U.S. Golf Association’s decision to ban transgender women from the sport. The decision was taken after hearing multiple medical experts and undergoing extensive research.

However, the LPGA and USGA never disclosed the experts who advised the panel or the studies they relied on. The article also questioned the reliability of studies suggesting that trans women have a competitive advantage over cis-women.

“Several researchers say, is there any reliable study showing that transgender women have a clear competitive advantage. There’s nothing we can see in the reviewed literature, nothing reliable that would suggest there’s an unfair advantage so far,”

The author of the Simone Biles piece cited her earlier work to argue that transgender women don’t have a clear-cut advantage over cisgender women. Notably, the opinion piece itself admits there’s a lack of long-term studies due to the limited number of transgender athletes available for research.

The studies are divided on this subject. A 2015 study in the Journal of Sporting Cultures & Identities compared pre- and post-transition race times of 8 trans women distance runners. It found that post-hormone therapy, runners slowed down and showed no lasting performance advantage.

In contrast, a 2021 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine analyzed U.S. Air Force fitness tests and found that trans women outperformed cisgender women in push-ups, sit-ups, and a 1.5-mile run for up to two years after starting Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy (GAHT).

It is a complicated situation because extensive long-term research is required to put this debate to rest. In this situation, it is more than just about Riley Gaines diminishing the young athlete. Her statement virtually discredits all the other team members, and it gives rise to an uncomfortable question. Since there is no transgender class at the high school or NCAA level, does that mean trans women should be completely barred from all sports due to the lack of equal competition?

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