BREAKING: Simone Biles APOLOGIZES to Riley Gaines, calls for sports to have 'inclusion while maintaining fair competition'

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles apologized on Tuesday after she criticized former University of Kentucky swimmer and women's sports advocate Riley Gaines over the weekend for speaking out against a Minnesota high school softball team, which included a trans-identified male player, that won the state championships.

"I wanted to follow up from my last tweets," Biles wrote on Tuesday afternoon. "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. 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. Xoxo Simone."

Biles had responded to a tweet on Friday from Gaines, in which the former collegiate swimmer noted that comments on a photo of the winning team, which included the biological boy, had been disabled. Biles replied, "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 added, "One things (sic) for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!"

In a separate post, Biles wrote, "Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male," sparking backlash.