Martina Navratilova takes stance against Simone Biles after Riley Gaines & gymnast get into heated public fight about trans athletes

Martina Navratilova cleared her stance as Simone Biles and Riley Gaines engaged in an online rift over their contrasting opinions on trans athletes' participation in sports. The fight churned out as Gaines took to her social media to take a dig at Minnesota State High School's post on their Class AAAA Softball team's State Championship win.

The former swimmer claimed that they had switched off their comments owing to a transgender athlete being a part of their team. Biles reacted to Giles' post on X (formerly Twitter), condemning her comments, calling the former swimmer a 'sore loser'.

A user on X replied to Biles' post, sharing a clip of men's gymnasts attempting her routines with ease, and questioned if she would reach the same level of success if these athletes competed against her. The 18-time Grand Slam champion shared that clip, writing:

"As I was saying…"

Martina Navratilova has been a staunch believer in preventing trans athletes from competing in the same category as biological women in sports and often speaks up about this on public platforms.

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"We are not against trans athletes": Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova speaks at an event - Image Source: Getty

In an episode of the On with Kara Swisher podcast published in November 2023, Martina Navratilova candidly explained her stance on the transgender in women's sports debate. She elaborated that she was not against the involvement of trans athletes in sports entirely, but just wanted them to compete in a different category professionally.

The former World No. 1 also said that male athletes, who identify as women, should play in men's events.

"We are not against trans athletes. We are for women athletes to compete in as level a playing field as possible. Which means the males, who now identify as women, should compete in a male category," she said.

She further spoke on the practicality of this method as trans people still have 'numerous' advantages over biological women in terms of physicality. She added,

"And women who identify as men but don’t take testosterone can compete as women. Because there is still no advantage physically over other women athletes...It’s simply not fair. They’re taller, and their bone density, their lung capacity, their skeletal structure, even their airways are larger than women. The advantages are numerous."

Navratilova has been one of the prominent LGBTQ+ icons in the sport since she came out in the 70s.