After a heated conflict on transgender athletes, Simone Biles apologized to Riley Gaines. See what sparked this debate and why this battle over women’ sports activities will not be over.
USA Olympic gymnast Simone Biles has apologized to All-American swimmer Riley Gaines for making issues “private” of their social media spat final weekend over girls’s sports activities.
“I’ve all the time believed aggressive fairness & inclusivity are each important in sport. The present system would not adequately steadiness these necessary rules, which frequently results in frustration and heated exchanges, and it did not assist for me to get private with Riley, which I apologize for,” Biles wrote on X on Tuesday.
“These are delicate, sophisticated points that I actually do not have the solutions or options to, however I consider it begins with empathy and respect. I used to be not advocating for insurance policies that compromise equity in girls’s sports activities,” she added. “My objection is to be singling out kids for public scrutiny in ways in which really feel private and dangerous.”
“Particular person athletes — particularly youngsters — ought to by no means be the main focus of criticism of a flawed system they don’t have any management over,” she continued. “I consider sports activities organizations have a accountability to give you guidelines supporting inclusion whereas sustaining honest competitors. All of us need a future for sport that’s honest, inclusive, and respectful.”
I wished to comply with up from my final tweets. I’ve all the time believed aggressive fairness & inclusivity are each important in sport. The present system doesn’t adequately steadiness these necessary rules, which frequently results in frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t assist for me…
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) June 10, 2025
The heated debate between each girls started final week after Biles criticized Gaines, who famous that the Minnesota State Excessive College League turned off the feedback on a submit the place they’d received a championship, which may very well be as a consequence of one of many softball gamers being male.
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 6, 2025
“One factor [is] for positive is nobody in sports activities is protected with you round!!!!!” Biles informed Gaines, including in a follow-up submit, “[B]ully somebody your personal measurement, which might mockingly be a male.”
bully somebody your individual measurement, which might mockingly be a male @Riley_Gaines_
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) June 6, 2025
Gaines, who was pressured to compete towards trans-identifying athlete Lia (Will) Thomas in the course of the 2022 NCAA Division I Girls’s Swimming and Diving Championships, referred to as Biles’ remarks “so disappointing.” She additionally invited Biles this week to debate the problem on her “Gaines for Ladies” podcast or one other platform.
On Tuesday, Gaines accepted Biles’ apology, stating she is “nonetheless the best feminine gymnast of all time” regardless of their heated dispute.
“A few issues. Sports activities ARE inclusive by nature. Anybody can, and everybody SHOULD play sports activities,” she added. “Competitors, then again, and by definition, is unique. So the concept of ‘aggressive fairness’ is nonsensical.”
The swimmer additional pressured that it is fallacious to count on feminine athletes to stay silent and that male trans-identifying athletes have been detrimental to organic females in girls’s sports activities. She additionally contended that girls’s sports activities shouldn’t coerce women “to middle the emotions and validation of males and boys.”
“You possibly can’t have any empathy and compassion for the women should you’re ignoring when younger males are harming or abusing them,” Gaines wrote. “I’m not ashamed to be a voice for the unvoiced.”
I settle for Simone’s apology for the private assaults together with those the place she body-shamed me. I do know she is aware of what this appears like. She’s nonetheless the best feminine gymnast of all time.
A few issues. Sports activities ARE inclusive by nature. Anybody can and everybody SHOULD play… https://t.co/V8YbMvs3xf
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 10, 2025
On the conclusion of her submit, Gaines agreed with Biles that lawmakers and the leaders of athletic organizations are accountable, and referred to her lawsuit towards the NCAA and help for President Donald Trump’s government order to guard girls’s sports activities.
Though Gaines was current at the “Conserving Males Out of Girls’s Sports activities” government order earlier this 12 months, she famous that she didn’t see Biles there nor did she help the trouble together with her platform.
“I welcome you to the combat to help honest sports activities and a future for feminine athletes,” she concluded. “Little women deserve the identical shot to realize what you had.”
Photograph Credit score: ©Getty Photos/Laurence Griffiths/Employees
Initially revealed June 11, 2025.