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Simone Biles seemingly addressed her exit from X over the weekend and her feud with Riley Gaines.
“Strength is what we gain from the madness we survive,” Biles posted on her Instagram Stories on Monday, June 23.
The 11-time Olympic gold medalist and former University of Kentucky swimmer had a heated disagreement on X regarding transgender women athletes in women's sports. It began when Gaines misgendered a high school athlete as a “boy,” to which Biles reacted in a since-deleted X post, “@Riley_Gaines_ You’re truly sick, 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 on X at the time.
“Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male @Riley_Gaines_,” Biles hit back in a separate post, referring to her race with transgender athlete Lia Thomas back in 2022, where both Gaines and Thomas tied for fifth place.
The former collegiate swimmer reacted: “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. 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.”
Biles received backlash for her posts and she ended up apologizing for “getting personal with Riley.”
“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 in part on X at the time.
Gaines had a positive reaction to Biles' apology and praised her for her accolades she has accomplished in women's sports. “I accept Simone's apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me. I know she knows what this feels like. She's still the greatest female gymnast of all time. A couple of things. Sports ARE inclusive by nature. Anyone can and everyone SHOULD play…”
Update on Transgender Women Athlete's in Women's Sports
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Whether transgender women should be allowed to play in women's sports has been a hot topic in the all levels of sports. In 2022, Thomas became the first trans woman to win an NCAA swimming championship in 2022. However, in 2022, World Aquatics banned transgender women who have been through male puberty from competing in women’s races.
“The CAS decision is deeply disappointing,” Thomas said in a statement through her attorney after the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland did not overturn their transgender policies per NBC. “Blanket bans preventing trans women from competing are discriminatory and deprive us of valuable athletic opportunities that are central to our identities.”
“The CAS decision should be seen as a call to action to all trans women athletes to continue to fight for our dignity and human rights,” Thomas added.
According to a 2025 policy change on transgender athletes, “A student-athlete assigned male at birth may not compete for an NCAA women's team,” the official NCAA site reads.
However, a transgender woman athlete will be able to practice with the women's sports team.
“A student-athlete assigned male at birth may practice on an NCAA women's team and receive all other benefits applicable to student-athletes,” it continues. “Division I leadership is planning to adopt roster limits in place of scholarship limits and new practice squad policies are still in development.”
The policy change follows President Donald Trump signing an executive order banning transgender girls and women from women's and girls' sports back in February.
