Olympic gymnast Simone Biles publicly apologized to Riley Gaines on Tuesday, after comparing the former NCAA swimmer turned conservative commentator to a man in an online attack over Gaines’ stance on transgender athletes.
Biles took aim at Gaines after Gaines posted criticism online about the Minnesota state softball champions Champlin Park who won their competition with a transgender pitcher.
Gaines retweeted a picture of the team celebrating on X, writing that the outcome was “to be expected when your star player is a boy.”
Lashing out at Gaines on Friday and calling her views “truly sick,” Biles then told her to “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”
But on Tuesday, Biles broke her silence, saying she wanted to “follow up from my last tweets.”
“I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport,” she wrote on X. “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.”
Gaines accepted Biles’ olive branch, writing, “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 sports.”
Biles, an 11-time Olympic medalist, acknowledged that she doesn’t “have the answers or solutions” to the “sensitive, complicated issues” of transgender sports competition but said she believes “it starts with empathy and respect.”
“I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports,” Biles said. “My objection is to be singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful.”
“Individual athletes — especially kids — should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over,” she continued. “I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition. We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful.”
Biles also reportedly issued her apology on Instagram, including three silver hearts with her statement.
Chicago Bears NFL player Jonathan Owens, who is married to Biles, shared her apology on his Instagram account as well, according to the Daily Mail.
Gaines reportedly dug up a post the gymnast made in 2017 that contradicted her current position on transgender athletes.
“[A]hhhh good thing guys don’t compete against girls, or he’d take all the gold medals!!” Biles wrote.
“Oop, don’t you hate it when your past self completely undermines your current nonsensical argument?” Gaines wrote, reposting Biles’ words. “How has 2025 Simone reconciled with the fact 2017 Simone was a ‘truly sick bully’ by her own standard?”
A fierce defender of women’s sports, Gaines previously told Fox News she couldn’t “put into words the feelings of violation” when she was forced to share a locker room with transgender teammate Lia Thomas at the 2022 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship in Atlanta.
“A 6-foot-4 man was allowed in to undress, fully expose himself,” Gaines said. “He was full naked and, of course, full intact inches away from where we, 18-, 19-, 20-year-old girls, were fully undressed.”
“It’s humiliating. It’s awkward. It’s embarrassing. It’s uncomfortable,” she added. “But, most importantly, I remember feeling so betrayed by my university, by the NCAA, by people who I believed had our best interests at heart.”
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