Simone Biles attacks Riley Gaines

[ItsCoolForCats]

Simone Biles has come out in defence of males in women's sports, and has attacked Riley Gaines for fighting against it. She said on Twitter:

"@RileyGaines
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!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!"

So, so disappointing. Both my daughters do gymnastics and are huge SB fans, so it is awful for her to show such contempt towards RG, who is fighting for a level playing field for women and girls in sport. And to suggest a separate category as if nobody has ever thought of that and tried it 🤦🏻‍♀️

Apparently she retweeted it. The horror.

I'm sure if you look on certain message boards, you can find some Murican right wing bros saying that women shouldn't play sports. But that's really really fringe. It's not a view you would find aired on Fox or Daily Wire or National Review.

What you can find quite easily in the US is shitloads of Republican voting women who don't fit a British mould of left-leaning feminism, but who are extremely assertive in pushing for what they see as the interests of women and girls, and who get very angry when their daughter risks losing out on a sports scholarship - or being injured - because some bloke has identified onto the team.

That's Riley's audience. This might not be obvious to Brits who think any American woman to the right of Kamala Harris is a weird meek tradwife from a Louis Theroux show. (And actually, if the Harris campaign is anything to go by, that's how many Blue Tribe Americans think of women in the Red Tribe.)

I suspect she herself has been body-shamed a lot and been picked on due to her small stature and so like other bullies, feels that she can make herself feel better if she attacks the 'pretty blonde tall girl'. Sometimes people who have been bullied go on to bully others. Drag others down to make themselves feel better about themselves. I suspect there is a lot of of underlying jealousy there. She looks at Gaines and feels jealousy and resentment, so picks on her height (which is strange as Gaines is completely average height) to make herself feel better. It's a sad truism that to cope and survive the bullied often becomes the bully.

And I am actually around Biles' height, I'd have to check what her actual height is, but I'm 148cm (don't know what that is in feet/inches) and I think we're actuallty the same height, so I get her insecurity on a personal experience level. But I've never bullied or insulted tall girls to make myself feel better.

Public figures who do interviews often re-tweet the media outlet's tweet of their interview, to further their outreach. It's a common thing. I doubt JessaWoo would have a problem with it if the interview blurb had her discussing defence, education, the tanking economy of her state, or her favourite book club review. It's just because Gaines was asked about Biles attack that JessaWoo has a problem with it.

There, is the hypocrisy.

Edit: just googled Biles' height. And converted my 148cm in an online height conversion calculator. Biles and I are exactly the same height! Wow, how about that! It's a rare height. So yeah, I get her, and I get her insecurity. I empathise through actual personal experience. But, I have never insulted a taller girl or woman because of their height. So at least I have that.

The usual biased one-sided nonsense from the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jun/13/simone-biles-riley-gaines-apology-reaction

Simone Biles, the true hero in this story has magnanimously apologised (with a bit of help from her PR team because her tweets went down like a cup of cold sick), whilst anti-trans right-winger RG is still going on Fox News.

The article conveniently omits to mention that SB's personal remarks were comparing RG to a man and that she showed a remarkable level of ignorance because third categories have already been tried. Is it too much to hope for the Guardian to have a tiny bit of balance?

Meanwhile, USA Gymnastics are said to be reviewing their trans inclusion policy
Thank you Riley 👏🏻

https://washingtonstand.com/news/transgender-policy-pivot-usa-gymnastics-faces-firestorm-amid-bilesgaines-clash

This is a positive outcome at least.

Wonder what Simone thinks?

It's interesting that USA Gymnastics has had a policy accepting anyone into the women's category who claims that they're female. The women's gymnastics routines are different from the men's, and among women, smaller competitors tend to do best (like Simone Biles). So how someone with a male physique and size would get along is a good question.

Quick web search, and these guys may not be Simone Biles, but they're not totally making fools of themselves:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gymnastics/comments/9fmddh/men_doing_womens_gymnastics/

Not to say men belong in women's competition, but maybe the men's events could be expanded.

Firstly I noticed the men aren't in sequined leotards and lippy yet we are often told it vital that female gymnasts are. Secondly where are the videos of women doing men's gymnastics? Why doesn't the supreme athlete that is Simone Biles have a crack at the pommel horse or the rings?

The topic is Riley Gaines and Simone Biles. Not other people. The point I was making is that RG’s whole identity is anti-trans activism/ultra-Conservative pundit. Of course there are people on all sides of the spectrum that operate similarly.

Gaines reposted this to her account.

And? Do you think that somehow makes it different?

The other problem with the image I posted earlier in the thread is it depicts children, so specifically, the gymnast in the red leotard on the top of podium has a child’s physique - not a woman’s. No doubt this was deliberate.

Um …

Don't be so silly.

Simone Biles doesn't have a child's physique, because she is very muscular. She is the height of a child, however.

She is 30cm taller than my DS, who is 4.

Hilariously a huge advert popped up when I clicked the link “how do we protect the truth?” Well I don’t know Guardian, but not lying or leaving out key information would be a good start.

Perhaps you’ve missed the taunts she regularly receives then from certain sectors due to her height.

Which makes it all the more disappointing that she decided to body shame another woman, who has essentially the same opinion as her about men in women's sports (but isn't afraid to say so) simply for having the wrong political beliefs.

In any case, what was the creator of that AI image supposed to do? Say, "draw a picture of Simone Biles pulling the ladder away from some little girls but make Simone Biles 5ft3 so she is taller than the little girls"?

That's exactly why I was so (unpleasantly) surprised to see her pull this shit on Riley

The only good thing I noticed about the article was that it had a link to an excellent article by Susanna Rustin.

RG is pro women's rights in sports, not anti-trans.
and can yo define "ultra-conservative"?
How is it different from "conservative"?

“Ultra-conservative” oh my days

If Riley's activism regarding women's sports is "anti trans" then anyone taking the opposite of point of view is "anti women".

Are you "anti women"?