Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles deleted her X account entirely after wading into the transgender athlete debate and getting utterly destroyed by women’s rights champion Riley Gaines – yet another sad example of what happens when elite athletes forget which biological realities made their own careers possible.
At a Glance
- Simone Biles deleted her X account with 1.9 million followers after facing intense backlash for supporting a transgender teen athlete
- Biles called women’s rights advocate Riley Gaines a “sore loser” and suggested Gaines was the “size of a man” while defending biological males in girls’ sports
- After days of public outcry, Biles issued an apology to Gaines before completely abandoning her social media platform
- Gaines, who tied with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in a women’s competition, has become a leading voice for protecting women’s sports
From Gold Medals to Gold-Standard Virtue Signaling
The most decorated gymnast in Olympic history apparently can’t stick the landing when it comes to basic biology. Simone Biles ignited a firestorm when she defended a transgender teen athlete competing against biological females, while simultaneously attacking Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer who has become one of the nation’s most prominent advocates for women’s sports. The controversy erupted when Gaines criticized a Minnesota high school softball team for featuring Marissa Rothenberger, a transgender teen athlete.
Instead of considering the competitive implications, Biles unleashed a scathing attack on Gaines, calling her “truly sick” and a “sore loser.” Not content with just those barbs, Biles took her attack to a startlingly personal level, suggesting that Gaines herself was the “size of a man” – apparently missing the irony of using physical attributes as an insult while simultaneously arguing that biological differences shouldn’t matter in sports competition.
The gymnastics legend, who had amassed 1.9 million followers on X, went completely dark on the platform after the backlash proved too much to handle. Rather than standing by her convictions or engaging in meaningful dialogue about the scientific realities of biological advantage, Biles took her ball and went home – the digital equivalent of sticking fingers in ears and shouting “I can’t hear you!”
Simone Biles vs. Riley Gaines: The Feud That Ignited a Gymnastics Controversy
USA Gymnastics has quietly taken down its transgender policy pages amid a heated online feud between Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines. The dispute erupted after…
— Political Maverick (@PoliticalMav) June 9, 2025
When Reality Comes Knocking
After a four-day silence that spoke volumes, Biles finally issued an apology to Gaines, suddenly discovering the importance of “competitive equity” after the court of public opinion had rendered its verdict. The gymnast who had just days earlier been lecturing others about inclusivity apparently decided her own inclusion on the platform wasn’t worth the heat of defending her position. It’s funny how quickly principles evaporate when the spotlight gets uncomfortable.
Gaines, showing considerably more grace than she received, accepted the apology while maintaining her position that women’s sports should be protected. Gaines has first-hand experience with the issue, having tied for fifth place with Lia Thomas – a biological male competing in women’s swimming – at the 2022 NCAA championships. Since then, she has dedicated herself to advocating for the protection of women’s sports from what many see as an existential threat to fair competition.
The Larger Battle for Women’s Sports
The Biles-Gaines controversy highlights the growing tension between progressive ideology and biological reality in athletics. For decades, women fought for Title IX protections and the right to have their own competitive categories – only to now watch as those hard-won spaces are compromised in the name of “inclusion.” The science is abundantly clear: post-puberty males retain significant physical advantages regardless of hormone therapy, including bone density, lung capacity, heart size, and muscle memory.
What’s particularly disappointing about Biles’ position is that she herself has benefited enormously from sex-segregated sports. Her remarkable achievements as the most decorated gymnast in history were only possible because women’s gymnastics exists as a protected category. Without separate competitions, the physiological differences between men and women would have made her success impossible – the very point Gaines has been tirelessly making.
As this debate continues, more athletes will be forced to choose between biological reality and progressive orthodoxy. Biles’ retreat from the platform demonstrates the powerful forces at work to silence dissent on this issue. But Gaines and other advocates aren’t backing down, recognizing that the future of women’s sports quite literally depends on maintaining the distinction that has allowed female athletes to showcase their extraordinary talents in the first place.
