Source : ABC NEWS
Olympic champion Simone Biles has labelled former US swimmer and political activist Riley Gaines as “sick” and a “sore loser”, following a social media post about a high school softball team.
Biles, the winner of 11 Olympic medals in gymnastics, including seven gold, responded to a post from Gaines where the former college swimmer mocked moderators for turning comments off the social media platform X when announcing the champions of a high school softball competition.
The account for the Minnesota State High School League posted a picture of the Chaplin Park girls’ team celebrating their win of the Class AAAA state championship.
Chaplin Park has a trans player on their team.
“Comments off lol … To be expected when your star player is a boy,” Gaines wrote on X.
Gaines has been outspoken against trans athletes competing in women’s and girls’ sports, after she tied fifth with trans athlete Lia Thomas in the 200-metre freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships.
Lia Thomas (left) and Riley Gaines (right) on the podium after tying for fifth in the 200-metre freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships. (Getty Images: Icon Sportswire/Rich von Biberstein)
On Saturday, AEST, Biles responded to Gaines’s comments on the high school picture and said the former college swimmer bullied people because she “lost a race”.
“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser,” Biles wrote.
“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.”
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Biles has been a strong advocate for the safety of athletes, especially around mental health.
Gaines responded to Biles by accusing her of helping “men stealing championships in women’s sports”.
“This is actually so disappointing. It’s not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces,” Gaines wrote.
“You can uplift men stealing championships in women’s sports with YOUR platform.
“Men don’t belong in women’s sports and I say that with my full chest.”
Gaines has become a fierce advocate of trans athletes not being allowed to compete against women and girls.
She was at the White House in February when US President Donald Trump signed an executive order excluding transgender girls and women from female sports.
After the president’s order, Gaines described herself as feeling “cheated, betrayed, and violated” for competing against Thomas during her college swimming career.
“I wish I could’ve told the girl in this photo what was to come in 2025. She felt cheated, betrayed, and violated,” she wrote on X with an image of her and Thomas on a podium.
“I’m just glad that girl trusted God and took a leap of faith by stating the obvious when it wasn’t popular. It was true then and it’s true now. He’s a man.”
