Riley Gaines is used to going viral online since she has taken a hard stance against transgender athletes competing against women.
She found herself buzzing over the past week when Simone Biles took aim at her. While others would fold, she stood firm and emerged the winner in that back-and-forth argument.
Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles apologized to the former college swimmer after the two engaged in a verbal back-and-forth on X on Friday.
In a post Tuesday, Biles apologized for not showing “empathy and respect” in a tweet where she ripped Gaines for the former swimmer’s stance on transgender athletes.
Biles said she believed “competitive equity and inclusivity” are essential in sport and did not want to advocate for policies that “compromise fairness in women’s sports.”
Just when you thought it was over, a former ESPN employee entered into the conversation.
On Tuesday, in an episode of her podcast Casuals, former ESPN and FS1 host Katie Nolan went deep on the “insane” arguments made by Riley Gaines.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral Olympics stories via Google! Follow Us
“This is one of many narratives, that if you spend any time reading these people’s arguments and what they think are solid points, it comes up a lot,” Nolan explained. “It’s a talking point that is so insane … they think that a transgender athlete being in a locker room would force every other girl on that team to be naked in front of a transgender athlete. It is such a leap of a thing that could happen, as is any argument that anybody passionately makes against trans athletes in sports.”
“Simone Biles, shout out to her for taking a stand against something that she sees as bigoted, bullying, harassment. Which it is, and continues to be,” Nolan said.
“Riley Gaines is not the only person doing this. It’s a bunch of media companies who also participate in this, send their followers to attack high school kids. But this group of people who love to claim they are protecting women’s sports, they care about women … you don’t get to say that you’re protecting women’s sports when you tweet a photo of our greatest female athlete’s abuser at her. You just don’t. She’s in women’s sports. She’s successful in women’s sports. And yet, she still advocates for a solution. For coming up with some sort of fix with this thing you deem a problem.”
Gaines saw another opportunity to rip a rival as she took to X with a five-word message:
“Uh, easily and peacefully, lol,” Gaines replied.
Uh, easily and peacefully lol https://t.co/V06SV6qkEG
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 11, 2025
Riley Gaines Has Dealt With Going Head-To-Head With A Transgender
Riley Gaines knows what it is like to face a transgender athlete.
She attended the University of Kentucky, competing at the highest collegiate level in NCAA Division I swimming.
Gaines earned 12 NCAA All-American honors during her college swimming career. Her most notable—and controversial—finish came at the 2022 NCAA Women’s Championships, where she tied for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
