Olympic gymnast Simone Biles has apologized for tweets she directed at former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines during a widely watched battle of words over biological males competing in women’s sports. 

Biles, who is Catholic, had tweeted that Gaines was “truly sick” and a “straight up loser” in response to her June 6 post on X that criticized the Minnesota State High School League for allowing a male pitcher to participate — and dominate — the girls’ softball championship. 

“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,” Biles tweeted. 

Instead, she wrote, “You bully them,” adding that “no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!” 

On Tuesday, Biles tweeted a statement in which she apologized for getting “personal” with Gaines. 

“I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport,” Biles wrote on X.  

“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,” her post said.   

Biles also appeared to attempt to clarify her stance on the transgender sports issue. 

“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. I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports,” Biles wrote. 

“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,” she continued. 

“I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition,” she wrote. “We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful.”  

Biles’ original posts triggered a wave of criticism online. Some commenters noted that it was doubtful that Biles would have won a gold medal at last year’s Olympic Games if she had had to compete against males. 

Gaines is a former University of Kentucky swimmer who became a sought-after speaker and political activist after speaking out against having to compete with University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer William Thomas, a biological male who goes by the name Lia, at the 2022 NCAA swimming championships. 

“If she wants to use her platform to uplift men in women’s sports, then, by all means,” Gaines tweeted on X, referring to Biles. “But it’s certainly not my job. And I don’t believe it’s the job of any woman to do this.” 

Among those who jumped into the fray on X was Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. 

“High achieving women who pull up the ladder behind them are owed no fealty from other women,” Rowling tweeted, in support of Gaines’ position. “You can be a useful idiot for male cosplayers and cheats, or you can fight to ensure that girls who follow in your footsteps have a fair shot. You can’t do both.” 

Gaines responded to Biles’ apology late Tuesday evening, writing on social media: 

For many young Catholics who once looked up to Biles, the gymnast’s trajectory and embrace of progressive social causes has been deeply disappointing. In 2020, Biles sparred with the conservative group One Million Moms over a petition denouncing an Uber Eats ad in which she appeared with Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness — who identifies as nonbinary — in matching leotards. 

In response, Biles offered her unconditional support to the LGBTQ community and vowed to continue to stoke the ire of conservatives, writing, “I’d do x1000000 more commercials with you just to p*ss everyone off.” 

Biles has also publicly stated her support for abortion and welcomed her sister’s 2022 announcement that she is gay.  

When Biles was a child, her mother struggled with addiction and Biles spent time in foster care before eventually living with her grandparents, who raised her in the Catholic faith. Biles noted that her grandparents pray the Rosary for her, and that she always lights a candle to St. Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes, prior to her competitions, according to a CNA article.  

She also was one of the hundreds of women who came forward to say they endured sexual abuse from former USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who is facing life in prison after being convicted in 2017 after pleading guilty to abusing 10 of the women who came forward with claims of being molested, according to NBC News. 

Biles’ original exchange on X also drew support in some mainstream media outlets, including an opinion column published in USA Today titled, “Simone Biles shows her greatness again in standing up for transgender community.” 

As Bishop Barron, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, and Bishop O’Connell, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Catholic Education stated in response to a failed vote in the Senate earlier this year on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025: 

“The teaching of the Catholic Church calls us to advocate for the equal dignity of men and women, recognizing that God created us male and female. . . . An ideological promotion of personal identity, detached from biological reality, undermines human dignity and the role sports play in true educational formation. We  . . . encourage female student athletes nationwide to continue to strive to uphold fairness and equality in athletic competitions.” 

The Catholic Church’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has outlined the Church’s position on gender ideology in its 2024 declaration Dignitas Infinita.  The document cautions that gender ideology “cancels differences in its claim to make everyone equal,” reducing human life to self-invention rather than a gift from God. The declaration insists that “biological sex and the socio-cultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished but not separated,” and that efforts to obscure the “ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman” must be rejected.