The Riley Gaines and Simone Biles Feud: A Clash Over Transgender Athletes in Sports
In June 2025, a public feud between two prominent figures in the sports world—Riley Gaines, a former college swimmer turned activist, and Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in Olympic history—ignited a firestorm of controversy. What began as a disagreement over transgender athletes in sports quickly escalated into a personal and highly publicized exchange on social media. This article delves into the backgrounds of both women, the specifics of their conflict, and how it ties into Gaines’ activism against transgender women competing in women’s sports. It also examines the fallacy in Biles’ comment about Gaines bullying “someone her own size” and the broader implications of their dispute.
Who Are Riley Gaines and Simone Biles?
Riley Gaines rose to prominence as a competitive swimmer at the University of Kentucky. Her national profile grew significantly in 2022 when she tied for fifth place with Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, at the NCAA Women’s Swimming Championships. The experience of competing against Thomas, who had transitioned from male to female, became a turning point for Gaines. She has since emerged as a leading voice against transgender women participating in women’s sports, arguing that biological differences—such as muscle mass, bone density, and lung capacity—confer an unfair advantage, even after hormone therapy. Now a conservative activist, Gaines frequently appears on platforms like Fox News and OutKick, advocating for policies that restrict women’s sports to athletes with XX chromosomes (biological females). Her activism gained further traction in February 2025, when President Donald Trump invited her to the White House to celebrate an executive order banning transgender girls and women from female sports categories.
Simone Biles needs little introduction. With 11 Olympic medals (seven gold) and 30 World Championship medals, she is widely regarded as the greatest gymnast of all time. Beyond her athletic dominance, Biles has used her platform to advocate for athlete mental health, most notably when she withdrew from several events at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics to prioritize her well-being. She has also been outspoken about the sexual abuse she endured under former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, aligning herself with broader efforts to improve safety and support for athletes. While less politically outspoken than Gaines, Biles has occasionally addressed social issues, including inclusivity, which set the stage for her clash with Gaines.
The Feud: What Sparked the Conflict and What They Said
The feud erupted on June 6, 2025, when Gaines commented on a Minnesota high school softball team, Champlin Park, which had won the state championship with a transgender pitcher, Marissa Rothenberger. Gaines took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize the Minnesota State High School League’s decision to disable comments on their celebratory post, writing, “Comments off lol. To be expected when your star player is a boy.” This remark, which misgendered Rothenberger and questioned the legitimacy of the team’s victory, drew a sharp rebuke from Biles.
Biles responded with a tweet that amassed over 50 million views: “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!!!!!” She followed up with, “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”
Gaines hit back immediately, calling Biles’ comments “disappointing” and labeling her a “male-apologist at the expense of young girls’ dreams.” She rejected Biles’ suggestion of a transgender category, arguing that it wasn’t her responsibility—or any woman’s—to “figure out how to include men in our spaces.” The exchange grew more personal when Gaines referenced Biles’ trauma from the Larry Nassar scandal, tweeting, “All the horrific sexual abuse @Simone_Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man’s feelings. You know how many gold medals you’d have if your ‘inclusive’ dream came true? Zero.” This drew widespread criticism, with figures like ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith condemning Gaines for exploiting Biles’ past, even while agreeing with her stance on transgender athletes.
Riley Gaines’ Activism: XX with XX, XY with XY
At the core of this feud is Gaines’ activism against transgender women in women’s sports, a cause she has championed since her encounter with Lia Thomas. Gaines argues that sports should be divided strictly by biological sex: XX chromosomes (female) with XX, and XY chromosomes (male) with XY. She contends that this approach preserves fairness and protects the integrity of women’s athletics, which she believes is undermined when transgender women—born with XY chromosomes—compete in female categories. Even with hormone therapy, Gaines asserts, biological males retain physical advantages that tilt the playing field.
Gaines explicitly rejects the idea of a separate transgender division, a solution Biles proposed in her tweet. To Gaines, such a category is a half-measure that fails to address the fundamental issue: ensuring that women’s sports remain exclusive to biological females. She views the burden of accommodating transgender athletes as unfairly placed on women, rather than addressing what she sees as a misalignment between biological sex and competitive equity. Her stance has found support in conservative circles and has been codified in policies like Trump’s 2025 executive order and similar laws in at least 27 states.
The Fallacy of Biles’ “Bully Someone Your Own Size” Comment
Biles’ remark—“Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male”—added a personal twist to the feud, but it also revealed a logical misstep. Gaines, who stands at 5’5” with a muscular build from her swimming career, interpreted the comment as body-shaming and a jab at her physical stature. In a video response, she noted, “I’m 5-foot-5, which might seem like a giant to someone who’s like, 4-foot-7, 4-foot-8, but I’m pretty standard size for a woman, just, like, relatively muscular, right? Being an athlete, I would imagine Simone would understand that.”
The fallacy lies in Biles’ shift from the substantive debate—transgender athletes in sports—to a personal attack on Gaines’ size. At 4’8”, Biles is notably petite, even among gymnasts, where smaller statures are advantageous. By suggesting that Gaines should “bully” a male because of her size, Biles inadvertently reinforced the very argument Gaines makes: that biological males, who are generally larger and stronger, differ physically from females. This undermines Biles’ push for inclusivity, as it leans on stereotypes about size and strength rather than engaging with Gaines’ biological-sex-based position.
Moreover, the comment sidesteps the core issue. Gaines’ activism isn’t about physical size but about chromosomal and physiological differences. In sports like gymnastics—Biles’ domain—men and women compete in entirely different events (e.g., rings for men, beam for women), a structure that reflects these differences. By focusing on size, Biles’ critique misses the mark and weakens her argument.
The Broader Context and Public Reaction
The feud quickly became a lightning rod in the ongoing debate over transgender athletes in sports. Gaines’ position aligns with a growing movement to define women’s sports by biological sex, while Biles’ call for inclusivity reflects efforts to adapt athletics to evolving understandings of gender identity. Public reaction was polarized. Biles faced backlash for her personal attack, with some resurfacing a 2017 tweet—“ahhhh good thing guys don’t compete against girls or he’d take all the gold medals !!”—to accuse her of hypocrisy. Gaines pounced on this, tweeting, “Oop don’t you hate it when your past self completely undermines your current nonsensical argument?”
Meanwhile, Biles garnered support from those who saw her as defending transgender athletes against Gaines’ perceived bullying. Influencers like Alex Cole quipped, “Simone Biles has 11 Olympic medals. Riley Gaines has 11 Fox News appearances complaining about people who actually win medals.” Yet Gaines claimed the online tide favored her, telling Clay Travis that Biles was being “absolutely demolished” on social media.
A Reflection of a Divided Debate
The Riley Gaines-Simone Biles feud transcends a mere celebrity spat; it encapsulates the tension between fairness and inclusion in sports. Gaines’ advocacy for XX-with-XX and XY-with-XY divisions stems from her belief that women’s sports must be protected as a category for biological females—a view rooted in her own experience and bolstered by policy shifts nationwide. Biles’ push for inclusivity, while emotionally charged, highlights the challenge of ensuring all athletes feel safe and valued, though her personal jab at Gaines muddied her message.
This clash underscores the need for nuanced, evidence-based solutions to a complex issue. As sports organizations, lawmakers, and society grapple with these questions, the Gaines-Biles feud serves as a stark reminder of the stakes—and the deeply personal passions—driving the debate.