Simone Biles says sorry to Riley Gaines for insult in heated dispute about transgender athletes

Simone Biles has issued a public apology to Riley Gaines for comparing her to a man in a bitter personal attack over her stance on trans athletes.

Gaines, a conservative commentator and former swimmer, recently stirred controversy by criticizing a softball team in Minnesota with a transgender pitcher. This comes after Gaines had previously been involved in a similar uproar against AB Hernandez, a transgender high school athlete.

At just 16 years old, Hernandez made headlines by winning gold in the high jump and triple jump at a California finals event in late May. Despite facing opposition from the parents of other competitors, Hernandez excelled in her events.

Following Gaines’ critical comments, gymnast Biles fired back on Friday, denouncing Gaines’ views as ‘truly sick’ and advising her to ‘bully someone your own size’, pointing out the irony that Gaines, being female, should confront a male counterpart. However, by Tuesday, Biles had a change of heart and extended an apology, which Gaines graciously accepted.

The OIympic gymast broke her four-day silence by writing on X: ‘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.’

Gaines replied: ‘I accept Simone’s apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me. I know she knows what this feels like. She’s still the greatest female gymnast of all time. A couple of things. Sports ARE inclusive by nature. Anyone can and everyone SHOULD play…’

SImone Biles has publicly apologized for her personal taunts aimed at Riley Gaines on X

Biles and Gaines have been caught in a war of words over transgender athletes 

In a lengthy apology, Biles also admitted she didn’t have the answers on how to include trans athletes in sports in a way that keeps everyone happy – seemingly acknowledging how polarazing her criticism of Gaines had been.

Biles wrote: ‘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. I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports. My objection is to be singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful. 

‘Individual athletes — especially kids — should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over. 

‘I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition. We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful.’

Biles also shared her apology on Instagram, captioning an image of her statement with three silver hearts. 

Her husband Jonathan Owens, an NFL player for the Chicago Bears, also shared the statement on his own Instagram.

The 28-year-old Biles, a seven-time Olympic gold medal winner was slammed for her comments at the time, with many female athletes adamant that it is unfair for trans competitors to line up alongside them.

Biles taunted Gaines over a race where she finished fifth, alongside trans athlete Lia Thomas, in her first post last week, saying: ‘You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser. 

Biles pictured alongside her husband Jonathan Owens – a Chicago Bears NFL player 

Gaines shakes Donald Trump’s hand on the day he signed an executive order on trans athletes

‘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. 

‘Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!’

She then replied again to Gaines, saying: ‘Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.’

Gaines caught Biles’ eye by mocking the Minnesota state softball champions Champlin Park, who won their competition with a dominant trans pitcher in Marissa Rothenberger.

She retweeted a picture of a team celebration on X, writing: ‘Comments off lol. To be expected when your star player is a boy.’

Gaines had also made her opposition clear on the controversial Hernandez, who has even faced protests from her own competititors.

One athlete, who finished second to Hernandez at a different meet last month, waited for male-born Hernandez to step down from the podium before taking what Gaines decribed as her ‘rightful place’ in the No 1 spot for a picture – while also describing Hernandez as ‘a fraud’.

Hernandez hasn’t replied directly to Gaines but earlier this week mocked those protesting against her involvement.

‘It’s just weird at this point,’ Hernandez said. ”[I’m a] 16-year-old girl with a mad attitude. You think I’m going to care?’

Gaines had led the backlash against 16-year-old trans athlete AB Hernandez (center) 

Gaines’ criticism of trans Minnesota pitcher Marissa Rothenberger sparked the Biles feud

Before accepting the apology from Biles, Gaines had criticized the Olympian in the aftermath of the attack on her. She unearthed a tweet from Biles in 2017 when the US Olympian said: ‘ahhhh good thing guys don’t compete against girls or he’d take all the gold medals !!’

Gaines reposed it and wrote: ‘Oop don’t you hate it when your past self completely undermines your current nonsensical argument? How has 2025 Simone reconciled with the fact 2017 Simone was a ‘truly sick bully’ by her own standard?’

Earlier this year, Gaines gave an astonishing recollection of sharing a locker room with Thomas at the 2022 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship in Atlanta.

She told Fox: ‘A 6-foot-4 man was allowed in to undress, fully expose himself. He was full naked and, of course, full intact inches away from where we, 18-, 19-, 20-year-old girls, were fully undressed.

‘I can’t even put into words the feelings of violation. It’s humiliating. It’s awkward. It’s embarrassing. It’s uncomfortable. But most importantly I remember feeling so betrayed by my university, by the NCAA, by people who I believed had our best interests at heart. 

‘And in the blink of an eye they threw our rights to privacy as women entirely out of the window.

Gaines has consistently campaigned against trans athletes competing in women’s sports

‘What we saw result from that was women, rather than going into the locker room to undress, they found other outlets. 

I know there were several girls, several of my teammates even, who opted to change in the janitor’s closet next to dirty mops as opposed to being exposed and exploited to a naked man.

‘So when they talk about “inclusivity,” what that really is is exclusivity and what they’re excluding is women out of women’s locker rooms

Thomas, previously known as Will Thomas, became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 title in the same year. 

Gaines, meanwhile, was invited to Donald Trump’s address to Congress in March when the President turned his focus to keeping trans athletes out of women’s sports.