Simone Biles Owes Her Legacy to the Rules Riley Gaines Is Defending

The very rules that allowed Biles to become a legend are the ones she now wants to destroy for the next generation of female athletes.

Reality’s Last Stand is a reader-supported publication. Please consider becoming a paying subscriber or making a one-time or recurring donation to show your support.

About the Author

Dr. Colin Wright is an evolutionary biology PhD, a Manhattan Institute Fellow, and the CEO/Editor-in-Chief of Reality’s Last Stand. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Times, the New York Post, Newsweek, City Journal, Quillette, Queer Majority, and other major news outlets and peer-reviewed journals.

---

When Olympic legend Simone Biles recently took to X to call Riley Gaines a “sore loser” and a “bully,” she reignited a debate that goes far beyond a single social media spat. At the center of the controversy was a trans-identified male high school softball player named Marissa Rothenberger, whose stellar pitching clinched a Minnesota state championship for Champlin Park High School. Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer turned women’s sports advocate, criticized the absurdity of the situation, pointing out the unfairness of allowing a biological male to compete in—and dominate—a girls’ competition. The Minnesota State High School League had celebrated the win while disabling comments, prompting Gaines to remark, “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”

Biles fired back on X, accusing Gaines of bitterness and transphobia: “You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser.” She continued, urging Gaines to uplift the trans community and suggesting, “Maybe a transgender category in ALL sports!!” In a follow-up post, Biles added, “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”

The double standard on display here is difficult to ignore. Critics like Gaines are trapped in a rhetorical bind: if they lose to a trans-identified male, they’re told they’re “sore losers.” If they win, the system must be fair after all and they have no right to complain. As Gaines has experienced firsthand, there is seemingly no scenario in which women are allowed to object to competing against biological males without being accused of cruelty or bigotry.

Reinforcing that view, USA Today columnist Nancy Armour rushed to Biles’ defense with a level of fangirl enthusiasm more typically seen on a personal blog than a national newspaper. Her piece throws journalistic objectivity to the wind and appears to violate USA Today’s very own Principles of Ethical Conduct, which emphasize fairness, balance, a high regard for the facts, and treating people with respect and compassion.

In her article, titled “Simone Biles shows her greatness again in standing up for transgender community,” Armour declared, “There is no scientific evidence that transgender women athletes have a physical advantage over cisgender women athletes, but that hasn’t stopped Gaines from claiming they do.”