Simone Biles apologizes for attacking Gaines for stance on transgender athletes in women's sports

U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles apologized Tuesday for her recent attacks on former college swimmer Riley Gaines for her stance on biologically male athletes who are transgender competing in women's sports.

The two began feuding over whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete against biological women in sports last week, and got heated after Biles claimed Gaines was "sick" for attacking transgender athletes. 

"You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race," Biles wrote on X. "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 continued. "But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!"

Biles also claimed Gaines should pick on someone her own size "which would ironically be a male."

The Olympic gymnast however apologized for the attacks in a lengthy social media post on Tuesday, stating she was pushing for more inclusion in women's sports rather than calling for women to be treated unfairly. 

"I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport," she wrote. "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," she continued. "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."

The women's gymnastics star concluded by urging sports organizations to create rules that support more inclusion while "maintaining fair competition."

"We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful," she added.

Gaines accepted the apology in her own post, stating the Olympian was "still the greatest female gymnast of all time," but urged her to stand up for the women and girls who are being negatively impacted by the transgender athletes.

"You can't have any empathy and compassion for girls if you're ignoring when young men are harming or abusing them," she stated. "I am not ashamed to be a voice for the voiceless ... Women's sports can't be used as an excuse for girl's to center the feelings and validation of men and boys."

 Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.