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Riley Gaines shared some of the posts of support she has received on social media for her stance against allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports. Her recent social media spat with Simone Biles on this topic has divided opinion.
Gaines is a former swimming who represented the University of Kentucky. In 2021, she won second place at the NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships in the 4x200-yard freestyle relay. Gaines also won the gold medal in the 200-yard butterfly at the 2022 SEC Championship in Knoxville.
Since concluding her swimming career, Gaines has been campaigning against the inclusion of trans women in women's sports. This led to a debate between her and 11-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles on social media.
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In an X post, Riley Gaines posted some of the TikTok reactions of women who were supporting her stance and wrote:
"In case you were wondering, Simone Biles is still getting dragged on TikTok. I almost feel bad for her."
The feud between Riley Gaines and Simone Biles began after the former criticized a Minnesota High School softball team for having a transgender player in its roster. Biles responded by slamming Gaines "bullying" trans people instead of promoting inclusion.
On Tuesday (June 10), Simone Biles, while maintaining her stance on promoting inclusitivity in sport, apologized to Gaines for the tone she had used in her previous posts.
Simone Biles apologized to Riley Gaines amid row between the two
Riley Gaines has been outspoken about her stance against the inclusion of transgender women in women's sports. Simone Biles was critical of the former swimmer's stance, which led to a heated exchange on social media between the two.
The decorated gymnast shared a public apology to Gaines, and also called for sports organizations to come up with a way to support inclusion "while maintaining fair competition".
"I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport. The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for. These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don’t have the answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect...."
Riley Gaines responded by writing that she accepted the apology and called Simone the 'greatest female gymnast of all time', while also maintaing her stance.
