Simone Biles Defended by Gymnastics Analyst as She Debunks Riley Gaines’ Comments

Looks like the tussle between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines is far from over. Merely two days after a social media confrontation between the two took the community by storm, a third voice has also chosen to lend their opinion in the matter, to Gaines’s dismay. But just to give you a little backstory first:

The conversation began on X on June 6, after the Minnesota State High School League shared a post celebrating Champlin Park High School’s victory in the 2025 Class AAAA Girls Softball State Championship. The team’s roster included a transgender athlete, which became the center of the discussion. As a junior pitcher, this player delivered a complete-game shutout in the championship match, allowing just three hits and striking out six batters. Throughout the state tournament, she pitched all 21 innings, conceding only two runs and earning All-tournament honors. Notably, the team’s victory post on X had its comments turned off, which the conservative sports activist linked to the inclusion of the transgender athlete.

This fired off Simone Biles. In response to her comment, the Olympic athlete swiftly responded back, “You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,” indicating Gaines losing the fifth-place trophy in the 200-yard final to transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2022 national championships. “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. Instead…you bully them. One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!” she further wrote.

While Gaines further hit back with multiple other reaction posts, one X user Katherine Keirns who identifies as a “Historian of Science, dabbling in Gymnastics History, focusing on German WAG as well as sport governance within NGBs,” on X, wrote on June 8, “Gymnastics is a sport where men and women do different events and there is absolutely no actual concern about men competing the women’s events dominating.” Simone Biles has also been in the loop with Katherine, but it wasn’t any direct critique or support of the gymnast. Back in March, she wrote on X, “I believe the US WAG program is in decline,” arguing that its success has been heavily reliant on generational talents like Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee rather than a deep, well-developed system. Though she did not take names.

Katherine also pointed out that gymnastics as a sport eyes very different histories for men and women. “Men’s and Women’s gymnastics are different sports because they have different histories. Men’s events come from 19th century military exercises while women’s come from a culture celebrating femineity and grace in the same time period emphasizing flexibility and dance,” said one of her tweets in the thread.