Simone Biles breaks silence with apology following feud over trans athletes

Warning: This article contains discussion of discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community which some readers may find distressing

Simone Biles has broken her silence and apologised to Riley Gaines following their social media spat over transgender athletes in women’s sports.

For those not up to speed, the fiery social media feud kicked off last week when the star gymnast, 28, and former competitive swimmer, 25, both reacted to a Minnesota high school softball team winning a state championship.

The heated exchange saw Biles rush to the defence of a transgender athlete on the team, who Gaines cruelly called 'a boy'.

On June 6, Gaines, who is known for her anti-trans views, quoted the tweet celebrating the win, with: “Comments off lol. To be expected when your star player is a boy.”

Then, Biles went on to quote Gaines' post and certainly didn’t mince her words as she called her out.

She wrote: “@Riley_Gaines_You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser. 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!!"

She continued: “But instead… You bully them…One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”

Biles then followed up with: “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male @Riley_Gaines_.”

The back-and-forth continued as Gains lashed back, writing: “This is actually so disappointing. It's not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces.

“You can uplift men stealing championships in women's sports with YOUR platform. Men don't belong in women's sports and I say that with my full chest.”

After some time away from the app, Biles has now returned to X with a lengthy response and an apology.

She wrote on Tuesday (10 June): “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.”

Biles added that the issues are ‘sensitive’ and ‘complicated’ and she doesn’t have the ‘answers or solutions’ but she believes it all starts with ‘empathy and respect’.

She continued: “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.”

The heated exchange comes after Donald Trump’s ban on transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, which was issued in February.

Trump signed the order which seeks to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls' and women's sports teams by denying federal funds for schools that allow it.

Speaking from the White House, he declared: "We will defend the proud tradition of female athletes. From now on, women’s sports will be only for women. The war on women’s sports is over."

Trump went on to claim the order in question was part of a 'sweeping effort to reclaim our culture and our laws'.

The order directs the Education Department to inform schools that allowing transgender athletes to compete will put them in violation of the federal law banning sex discrimination in school.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT Foundation on 0345 3 30 30 30, 10am–6pm Monday to Friday, or email [email protected]