Latest news with #H.R.28
New York Post
15 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Riley Gaines reacts to ‘phenom' Simone Biles deleting X after feud over transgender athletes
Decorated Olympian gymnast Simone Biles deactivated her X account weeks after her feud with former swimmer and women's sports activist Riley Gaines over a transgender high school softball player spiraled out of control. The 28-year-old's other social media accounts are still active, including her Instagram, which has 12.4 million followers. After noticing Biles' retreat, Gaines, 25, said it was 'sad to see such a phenom go down like this. ' 3 Olympian Simone Biles deleted her X account following her feud over transgender athletics with swimmer Riley Gaines. X / simone_biles '-has an incredibly unpopular and morally indefensible take, gets rightfully ridiculed for it, issues a groveling public apology after unrelenting backlash, deletes account to pretend it never happened,' the former NCAA swimmer for the University of Kentucky wrote on X. In early June, Marissa Rothenberger, a transgender athlete, pitched a shutout to give Minnesota's Champlin Park High School a state championship. The State High School League posted a team photo on social media after the big win — with comments turned off. 'To be expected when your star player is a boy,' Gaines, who competed against transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas in 2022, said. Biles fired back at Gaines' critique. 3 Simone Biles during the Women's Team Final on day four of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 27, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Getty Images '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 things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!' Biles wrote. Biles later apologized for the insults lobbed at Gaines, who is now a conservative commentator and activist for protecting women's sports. 3 Riley Gaines speaks at a news conference following the House of Representatives vote on H.R. 28 – 'Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act' at the US Capitol on Jan. 14, 2025. Getty Images 'I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. 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 wrote. 'We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful,' she insisted. But the damage had already been done — and other sports celebrities weighed in, including ex-NASCAR driver Danica Patrick and Biles' former teammate MyKayla Skinner, who accused her of bullying. The exact reason why Biles deleted her X and not her other social media accounts is unclear.
New York Post
09-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Simone Biles ‘incinerated her legacy' with trans athlete posts: Riley Gaines
Riley Gaines broke down the personal attack Simone Biles levied on her on social media and what it really meant for the Olympic gold medalist and one of the greatest gymnasts of all-time. Gaines dropped the latest episode of the 'Gaines for Girls' podcast on OutKick and recorded the show a few hours after Biles came after her on X. Gaines gave Biles her flowers as one of the best athletes to have ever performed in sports, but said the posts put a bad mark on her resume. Advertisement 'In just two tweets, Simone Biles basically tarnished her reputation to anyone with a shred of honesty, to anyone with a moral compass and to anyone with an inherent innate desire to protect women, to fight for equal opportunity for both men and women especially as it pertains to sports,' she said. 'The conclusion I'm drawing based on the response we have seen over the past 12-ish hours at this point on social media, she's basically incinerated her legacy in just two tweets.' Biles launched into an attack on Gaines on Friday as the former NCAA All-American swimmer reacted to a transgender athlete winning a state championship in Minnesota softball. 3 Simone Biles attends Netflix's 'Simone Biles Rising' FYC event at Hollywood Athletic Club on June 02, 2025 in Hollywood, California. Getty Images 3 Former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines speaks at a news conference following the House of Representatives vote on H.R. 28 – 'Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act' at the U.S. Capitol on January 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Getty Images Advertisement The Olympic gymnast called Gaines a 'bully' and said that 'no one in sports is safe with you around.' Gaines said during her podcast that she believed that Biles' post showed she may be finished competing in gymnastics with her apparent support of transgender athletes, taking a page out of Megan Rapinoe's playbook. Rapinoe said in 2023 she would support a transgender player on the US women's national team. She retired from the sport later that year. 'What she's done here is pull up the ladder behind her,' Gaines said of Biles. 'We've seen people like Megan Rapinoe do this. Simone Biles is just the latest where apparently she's done competing. Just like Megan Rapinoe did – waited until they were done competing to take a stance on this issue, which for the life of me I cannot understand. 3 Simone Biles of Team United States competes on the balance beam during the Artistic Gymnastics Women's All-Around Final on day six of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 01, 2024 in Paris, France. Getty Images Advertisement 'Take me out of the equation. Again, I don't care about the personal attacks. I cannot for the life of me understand why Simone Biles, in the year 2025, would advocate for this.' Biles said she would welcome a debate or discussion to talk about the issue of transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. Gaines has been at the forefront of championing fairness in women's sports since she tied with Lia Thomas in the 2022 NCAA Championships. 'I think she blindly advocated for this without actually thinking about the effects of what this would look like,' Gaines said. 'How no one would know Simone Biles if it weren't for women's gymnastics. … If her inclusive dream was a reality, she would have zero gold medals.'
