If being run off of a social media platform can be a sign of losing an argument, then Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has lost her debate to former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines.
The feud between Biles and Gaines began when the latter criticized officials for allowing a transgender athlete to compete on a Minnesota high school softball team. Biles lashed out at her with very personal attacks that many said veered into body-shaming.
‘To be honest, if a male gymnast walked into her division and dominated, Simone wouldn’t be clapping. She’d be calling foul — and rightly so.’
After apologizing to Gaines, Biles deactivated her account on the X platform, where the heated exchange transpired.
“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.”
She went on to claim that she was arguing against “singling out children for public scrutiny” rather than criticizing the “flawed” system of sports competition.
She later posted a cryptic message on her Instagram account.
“Strength is what we gain from the madness we survive,” the message read.
Many on the left had praised Biles for defending transgender athletes, but Gaines pointed out how irrational it was to demand the inclusion of transgender athletes to ensure “fairness,” as Biles argued.
“The boys are publicly humiliating the girls. To suggest that women and girls must be silent or ignore a boy who is PUBLICLY hurting or humiliating them is wrong,” Gaines wrote earlier in June. “You can’t have any empathy and compassion for the girls if you’re ignoring when young men are harming or abusing them.”
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Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images
Other female athletes weighed in against Biles’ position in comments to Blaze News.
“I think she did it impetuously. Didn’t think it through. Didn’t expect that kind of response,” said U.S. women’s national artistic gymnast Jennifer Sey. “She lives in a bubble, and she thought everyone would agree and cheer her on.”
“Simone Biles has never watched a male gymnast take her place on the podium,” said former NCAA swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler.
“To be honest, if a male gymnast walked into her division and dominated, Simone wouldn’t be clapping,” she added. “She’d be calling foul — and rightly so.”
Others mocked Biles for abandoning the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team in both team and individual events in 2021 in order to focus on her “mental health” issues.
“At the end of the day, I have to do what was right for me,” she said at the time. “It just sucks that it happened at the Olympic Games.”
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