"Me immediately in tears"- Riley Gaines gets emotional with unexpected reveal while recalling Simone Biles' dig during transgender athlete row

Riley Gaines addressed the body-shaming comment by Simone Biles during her speech at the Turning Point USA event on Saturday, June 14, where she revealed her baby bump and announced her pregnancy. The tussle between the two started when Biles called out Gaines for her mocking remarks about the inclusion of a transgender girl on Champlin High School’s girls’ softball team.

The feud triggered widespread discussion and elicited mixed views. Biles had tweeted about Riley Gaines’ appearance, saying, “Bully someone your own size.” This drew widespread criticisms, and Gaines called the gymnast hypocritical. On Tuesday, June 10, Biles cleared the air and issued an apology for making the disagreement personal. Riley Gaines accepted Biles’ apology while standing her ground and welcomed the gymnast to join the advocacy for fairness in women’s sports.

On Saturday, Riley Gaines posted a video on Instagram from the Turning Point USA event. The former swimmer is seen delivering her speech, during which she recalled Biles’ comment and said:

“But I think the funniest thing about this to me is her saying, ‘Bully someone your own size,’ which would ironically be a man...”

She then stepped away from the lectern, revealed her baby bump and sonogram, and finished her statement with:

"How many men do you know that have this ?"

The room burst into cheers, and Gaines later posted about announcing the moment on stage with an emotional note that read,

“Me, immediately in tears when announcing this to a room full of beautiful young women 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹.”

Screenshot of Instagram story (IG/@rileygbarker)

In a follow-up post, Gaines revealed that she and her husband, Louis Barker, are expecting their first child together. The caption read:

"surprise! we're 26 weeks pregnant! God is SO good all the time."

The couple got married in 2022 and celebrated their third anniversary last month.

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Gaines challenges Simone Biles’ concept of Competitive Equity

Following the transgender athlete row, Simone Biles issued an apology for making personal comments and reiterated her support for competitive equity and inclusivity in sports. Riley Gaines challenged the gymnast’s remarks and said:

“Sports ARE inclusive by nature. Anyone can and everyone SHOULD play sports. Competition, on the other hand, and by definition, is exclusive. So the idea of 'competitive equity' is nonsensical.”

Gaines continued her post by highlighting the humiliation faced by girls in sports:

“Secondly, the boys are publicly humiliating the girls. To suggest that women and girls must be silent or ignore a boy who is PUBLICLY hurting or humiliating them is wrong. You can't have any empathy and compassion for the girls if you're ignoring when young men are harming or abusing them. I am not ashamed to be a voice for the voiceless.”

Riley Gaines concluded by inviting the gymnast to join the fight to ensure fair competition for female athletes.