Keith Olbermann blasted after claiming Riley Gaines 'sucked at swimming'

Keith Olbermann had the audacity on Wednesday to tell former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines that the reason she lost to the hulking male swimmer Lia Thomas was because she "sucked at swimming."


Keith Olbermann's post, which received intense backlash

Riley Gaines, who tied for fifth place with Thomas in the 200 free at the NCAA championships in Atlanta in 2022, has been outspoken against males competing in women's athletic events. Her claims, backed up by science, are that men, by virtue of the testosterone pumping through their bodies as well as physiological characteristics, are stronger and bigger than women. This makes them innately faster when it comes to both swimming and running, two sports where trans-identified males have dominated women's events.

Notably, when Gaines and Thomas tied for 5th, Thomas was given the trophy by the NCAA and Gaines had to wait for hers to come in the mail. An NCAA rep told Gaines "Hey, I just want to let you know, we only have one fifth place trophy, so yours will be coming in the mail. We went ahead and gave the fifth place trophy to Lia, but you can pose on the podium with the sixth place trophy."

Thomas then went on to win the NCAA women's swimming national title, was nominated for woman athlete of the year, and tried to get onto the US women's Olympic swim team.

But Olbermann thinks Gaines should just get over it. 

Olbermann lashed out at Gaines after she took aim at Nebraska state senator Megan Hunt, who doesn't know what a woman is, despite apparently being one.

Gaines reminded Nebraskans that according to Hunt, "defining a woman" is "ridiculous," and suggested they remember this when they head to the ballot box to elect their representatives.

Hunt, who lists her pronouns as "she/her" and self-identifies as a "bi queen," claimed that a recent executive order passed in Nebraska that defines "woman" by her biological sex and not gender identity, is offensive.

"Today Governor Pillen, famous women's rights supporter, signed this offensive and ridiculous proclamation establishing a 'Women's Bill of Rights.' He should try saying this stuff to my face then we would see who’s got what biological advantage," Hunt said.

Hunt has stated that her 13-year-old child is trans. Now in 8th grade, Hunt told the legislature that her child came out as trans a few years ago. The child, Ash, has not sought a medical sex change. "Not everyone needs that. Fully transitioned is wherever you are comfortable. So, I’ll just be comfortable for a while," Ash said.

That Women's Bill of Rights was designed to protect women from incursion by males into female sports and spaces, and to protect women's right to claim the word mother as their own.

The executive order, which goes into effect immediately, "establishes, for purposes of state government: A person’s biological sex is defined at birth; The reasons for defining a person’s biological sex; Establishes guidelines for reporting of data."

Hunt has come after Gaines before. "It can be hard," Hunt said in reaction to Gaines speaking out against the unfairness of men in women's sport, "when we're young, to not win a trophy sometimes. But we grow up and realize it’s not the end of the world and we don't need to turn that loss into our entire personality."

More likely it is Hunt who has turned her trans child into the entirety of her own personality.

Gaines wasn't even talking about swimming when Olbermann lashed out at her over it. She was instead speaking out in favor of women's rights, something Olbermann, and the entire leftist pundit class, has forgotten about.

Twitter users, however, did not let him forget.

"You are embarrassing," said Canadian women's rights activist and writer Meghan Murphy.

Former women's tennis star Martina Navratilova slammed Olbermann, saying "Really Keith? You can do better than this, surely. Get past it. Suck??? Wtf?"

Dr. Suzanne Vierling said "Any man who choose to throw his daughters and sisters under the bus are conquered inside queer patriarchy. Senator Hunt has chosen the side that she thinks is the new power in charge of this nation. So have you which essentially acknowledges you completely defeated as a man."

Olbermann, who was sticking up for men's rights to publicly erase women, steal their titles, and claim to be women just through a figment of their own imagination, was shown to absolutely out of his league compared to the women who came after him in the replies.

Women's social media app Giggle founder Sall Grover pointed out that phenom women's tennis champion Serena Williams must have also "sucked." Williams said that "mens tennis and women's tennis are completely different sport."

"The men," she told late-night talk show host David Letterman, "are a lot faster, they serve harder, they hit harder."

Matt's Idea Shop summed it up by saying "Oh look, another dude inappropriately challenging Riley’s ability to swim."

Gaines has testified before Congress about being made to swim against Thomas. Former college swimmer Paula Scanlan, who was on the UPenn women's swim team alongside Thomas, testified about being made to share a locker room with Thomas. She described his male member, which the women were subjected to while they were preparing for meets and practice. Some women, she said, chose to change in storage closets rather than be subjected to Thomas' male gaze.

Scanlan also spoke about how the university forced the female swimmers to undergo reeducation so that they could understand that Thomas was a woman, just like them, despite being obviously male.

Thomas switched to women's swimming after placing 462nd nationally in men's competition. After taking estrogen for several months, declaring he was female, and being accepted into the ranks of women collegiate swimmers, Thomas won the national women's title.

Maybe Olbermann should take a second look at who, in fact, really "sucked at swimming."