Simone Biles blasted after comparing Riley Gaines to man during spat over trans pitcher

The controversy took place after Marissa Rothenberger, a male athlete who identifies as transgender and pitched a shutout for Champlin Park High School in Friday’s Minnesota state championship game. After the Minnesota State High School League posted a celebratory team photo on social media, Gaines pointed out that comments on the post had been disabled.

“Comments off lol,” Gaines wrote on X. “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”

Biles responded to the post by calling Gaines’ remarks “truly sick.” She also took aim at Gaines’ efforts as a whole, as Gaines has been outspoken about protecting women’s sports from biological men.

“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!!” Biles wrote. She went on to accuse Gaines of bullying transgender athletes and added, “One things (sic) for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”

In a follow-up post, Biles added, “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male," which sparked backlash against the Olympic gymnast.

Taylor Silverman wrote on X, "Claiming Riley Gaines is built like a man is almost as ridiculous as claiming men can be women."

Detransitioner Chloe Cole also blasted Biles over the comment, writing on X, "Tearing down other women just to please men and their fetish isn’t as progressive as you think. Your backwards stereotyping and bullying isn’t only disgusting, it’s also just wrong. Ironically if you wanted to bully someone your own size, you’d have to fight Dobby the elf."

Olivia Krolczyk also slammed Biles for the comment, saying, "You wouldn’t be saying this if you had YOUR medal taken away by a dude in a dress."

After the comment from Biles, Gaines fired back, calling the response “so disappointing.”

"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,” Gaines wrote.

In another post, Gaines said, "My take is the least controversial take on the planet. Simone Biles being a male-apologist at the expense of young girls’ dreams? Didn’t have that on my bingo card. Maybe she could compete in pommel horse and rings in 2028.”

Gaines also invoked Biles’ history of speaking out about sexual abuse by former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, criticizing Biles for defending male participation in women’s sports despite her advocacy for female athletes.

“All the horrific sexual abuse Simone Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man's feelings,” Gaines said. “You know how many gold medals you'd have if your ‘inclusive’ dream came true? Zero.”