Riley Gaines Says Simone Biles “Sold Out” Women’s Sports After Mocking Her As A Man

Simone Biles called Riley Gaines a bully and compared her to a man.

Now, thousands of women are calling her out. The gymnast launched an unexpected attack on Gaines via X, writing, “no one in sports is safe with you around” and “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”

Many women are coming to Gaines’ defense on social media.

Riley Gaines Speaks Out

On her Gaines for Girls podcast, Gaines said Biles “basically tarnished her reputation to anyone with a shred of honesty, to anyone with a moral compass, and to anyone with an inherent innate desire to protect women.” She recorded the episode just hours after seeing Biles’ posts and made it clear she never expected this from someone with Biles’ history and platform.

In a follow-up TikTok, Gaines explained how the entire situation started, stating, “all of this campaigning” began because she “lost a race.” Gaines clarified that she didn’t lose to Lia Thomas – “We tied,” she says – adding that she’s lost several races in her career, like any other athlete. What frustrated her wasn’t the insult itself but what it represented.

Gaines addresses how Biles says she needs to 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.”

To which Gaines' response was, “Let me get something straight, it's my job, it's the women's job… to find a way for the men's feelings to be validated, for their identity to be affirmed? That's not my job actually, at all.”

Gaines pointed out the irony of Biles making fun of Gaines’ appearance and calling her the size of a man. “I'm 5'5", which might seem like a giant to someone who's like 4'7", 4'8", but I'm pretty standard size for a woman. I guess like relatively muscular, right, being an athlete.” 

She went on to say, “You would think it's Simone Biles, a woman who has historically been scrutinized for having a very muscular, masculine-looking body.” She reminded viewers that Biles once “wore sweaters or jackets all year long” because of bullying about her muscles. “Then she has the nerve to say that I look like a man.”

Gaines also questioned how someone who bravely came forward about abuse in USA Gymnastics could turn around and advocate for policies that she believes put women in vulnerable positions. “This is a woman who has been incredibly brave in calling out and witnessing the horrific sexual abuse that she and hundreds of other female gymnasts faced at the hands of one sexual predator,” she said. “In the same breath, believing that vulnerable women should be forced to strip down naked in front of men in locker rooms so long as it makes the man feel happy.”

She asked, pointedly, “If Larry Nasser came out as trans, would Simone think it's responsible or safe for him to be housed in a women's prison?”

Despite the attack, Gaines said she wasn’t emotionally affected by Biles’ words. “To be very, very clear, I could care less what Simone Biles says about me. I'm a very secure person. I know I'm on the right side of history. I'm married, so if she wants to say I look like a man, I literally could care less.”

Her concern wasn’t for herself – it was for the young girls who looked up to Biles. “The most heartbreaking part about this, for me, is the platform that she has and the amount of young girls who look up to her. That she just in a blink of an eye sold out to appear to be virtuous.”

Gaines compared Biles’ behavior to that of Megan Rapinoe, who also publicly supported transgender inclusion in women’s sports after her own retirement. “What she’s done here is pull up the ladder behind her… Simone Biles is just the latest where apparently she’s done competing. Just like Megan Rapinoe did; waited until they were done competing to take a stance on this issue, which for the life of me I cannot understand.”

“If Simone's inclusive dream came true,” Gaines added, “she would have zero Olympic medals and no one would even know who she is.”

She closed her video with a reminder of how popular her stance really is. “The position that I have taken is the same position that about 90% of Americans have taken, which is that men should not be in women's sports.” Then, with a hint of sarcasm, “Maybe in the 28 Olympics she can compete in Pommel Horse and the Rings.”

Online, the sentiment echoed. Danielle D’Souza Gill resurfaced Biles’ past experience with body-shaming, tweeting, “When the Left says they support women, know it only applies to women who fall in line.”

Simone Biles Responds

Since the backlash, Biles issued a follow-up statement acknowledging she crossed a line. “It didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for,” she wrote. She went on to say the current landscape around gender inclusion in sports is flawed, adding that it “doesn’t adequately balance” fairness and inclusivity, something she believes contributes to “frustration and heated exchanges.”

Though she insisted she wasn’t “advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports,” Biles said her objection was specifically about “singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful.”

“These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don’t have the answers or solutions to,” she continued, ironically adding, “but I believe it starts with empathy and respect.”

She ended by urging sports organizations to step up, writing, “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.”

For many women, the apology may be too little or too late. The damage from those initial tweets was already done. Calling another female athlete a man, especially after building a platform around being bullied for her own body, was insensitive and misogynistic. It's also disrespectful toward the women who are fighting to keep their spaces safe. As Riley put it, “The most heartbreaking part about this… is the platform that she has and the amount of young girls who look up to her. That she just in a blink of an eye sold out to appear to be virtuous.”

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