
via Imago
RECORD DATE NOT STATED XXXIII Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 Artistic Gymnastics – Womens Team Final Simon Biles of United States during the Artistic Gymnastics competition Womens Team Final Floor Exercise as part of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on July 30, 2024, Paris, France. PARIS FRANCE FRANCE PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxMEXxCHNxRUS Copyright: xAdrianxMaciasx 20240730151550_OG_P2024_AG_W_TEAM_F_BILES22

via Imago
RECORD DATE NOT STATED XXXIII Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Paris 2024 Artistic Gymnastics – Womens Team Final Simon Biles of United States during the Artistic Gymnastics competition Womens Team Final Floor Exercise as part of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on July 30, 2024, Paris, France. PARIS FRANCE FRANCE PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxMEXxCHNxRUS Copyright: xAdrianxMaciasx 20240730151550_OG_P2024_AG_W_TEAM_F_BILES22
Simone Biles and Riley Gaines exchanged sharp tweets after Gaines criticized a transgender athlete’s key role in her team’s championship. Gaines wrote, “Comments off lol, to be expected when your star player is a boy.” Biles replied, calling Gaines “truly sick” and a “sore loser,” and suggested creating a transgender category in sports. Biles later apologized for getting personal but stood firm on inclusion. But trolls did not go away.
After a wave of harsh backlash, Biles deleted her X account in June 2025 to protect her mental health. She left without a farewell post but remains active on other platforms.This is the risk being a public figure brings; Biles talked of this. Her thoughts-
“Yeah, that can be sometimes annoying because you don’t realize the impact or just how big it’s gonna be. And so most of the time it’s always been pretty positive, and even if it’s not, it’s, I feel like it’s always spun in a positive light because of one, the people that are surrounding me as well as the fans.” Simone Biles said in a podcast with the Olympics, streamed on the organization’s YouTube channel today. While she does say positive things, social media has not been very kind to her in recent times, and she talked of that as well.
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The gymnast added in the podcast, “But this time I feel like the culture of social media has changed so much where it’s almost put me in a position of not wanting to share as much. And I’ve always tried to share as much so that people can relate, and we can be open and honest. And now it just makes me want to, I don’t know, it’s not like hiding, cause I don’t hide away from it, but be more private.“She is not wrong to feel that way because she recently shared vacation photos in a swimsuit, which led to some online speculation about changes in her appearance, claiming surgical enhancements.
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Source: Instagram/Simone Biles
She also said, “Because I know how much that can affect your circle, your personal life, your spouse.” Again, when the gymnast was in controversy with Riley Gianes, there were a lot of eyes on Jonathan Owens for what he would say in this matter. He chose silence. She confessed that when they started gymnastics, their goal wasn’t fame or money, even aiming for the Olympics was about setting goals and achieving success in their sport. The past few months have been tough for Biles on social media. She deactivated her X account, but her Instagram has been attracting a lot of trolls.
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Simone Biles vs Social Media
At the 2025 ESPY Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Simone Biles received two major honors: Best Championship Performance for her Paris Olympic all-around gold and Best Female Athlete. During her acceptance speech, she remarked, “That was very unexpected, especially in a category of all men,” and concluded with, “I believe in the power of sport, the power of us, and, of course, the power of she.” While many praised her words, some online critics viewed the comment as a “gender jibe,” with a few linking it to her past remarks about transgender athletes. “Simone Biles wins the first award, and still the only thing she can talk about is gender lmao,” one said.
After her X war with Riley Gaines on Twitter, Biles apologized—but the damage had already been done. Her comments were widely interpreted as a personal attack, triggering a wave of backlash that made her social media environment increasingly toxic. Despite issuing a public apology, many questioned its authenticity, with one user speculating, “She either used ChatGPT or a PR team,” while another cited Grok, claiming it was “unlikely” Biles wrote it herself. Recently, she had also dropped a message for the trolls.
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What’s your perspective on:
Has social media become too toxic for athletes like Simone Biles to express their true opinions?
Have an interesting take?
The gymnast took to her Threads account to drop a cryptic text, which read, “If you’re gonna say it, SAY👏🏾IT👏🏾ON👏🏾YOUR👏🏾REAL 👏🏾ACCOUNT”. Her aunt, Monique Robinson, jumped into the comment section, showing her support as she commented on the post, “Who’s messing with my niece?!” She even took the post to her Instagram story and wrote, “point, blank, period because why y’all soooo scared.” For now, the meaning behind her latest post remains unclear, but it has certainly reignited conversation across social media. What do you think?
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"Has social media become too toxic for athletes like Simone Biles to express their true opinions?"