Popular 11-time Olympic medalist gymnast Simone Biles released a lengthy statement on Tuesday in which she backtracked on her position about transgender athletes after a rather nasty feud with Riley Gaines on social media.
In the post, published on X, Biles commented on how “the current system doesn’t adequately balance” principles such as “competitive equity” and “inclusivity” which often leads to “heated exchanges,” like the one she had with Gaines.
Biles, 28, then offered an apology to Gaines.
“I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport. 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,” Biles said in the post.
The drama kicked off last week when Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer turned political activist, shared a reaction to a Minnesota High School softball team that won a state championship while having a biological male pitcher on their roster.
Gaines replied to the post by saying, “To be expected when your star player is a boy.” This didn’t sit well with Biles, who