Riley Gaines and MyKayla Skinner send message to Simone Biles on women's sports debate after SCOTUS ruling

Just implicit a twelvemonth ago, Simone Biles came astatine Riley Gaines.

In now-infamous X posts, Biles called retired Gaines for speaking up astir a transgender pitcher who won a Minnesota girls' softball championship, and mocked Gaines' assemblage saying "bully idiosyncratic your ain size, which would ironically beryllium a male." It ignited the biggest popular civilization flashpoint successful the "Save Women's Sports" movement.

Now conscionable implicit a twelvemonth later, Gaines has a adjacent state successful Biles' erstwhile US Olympic gymnastics squad teammate, MyKayla Skinner. Gaines and Skinner celebrated the Supreme Court's determination to uphold authorities laws that support women's sports connected Tuesday, and sent a connection to Biles 1 twelvemonth aft the infamous societal media feud.

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Mykayla Skinner and Simone Biles of Team United States airs for a photograph during Women's Podium Training up of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games astatine Ariake Gymnastics Centre connected July 22, 2021 successful Tokyo, Japan. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

"Just being capable to effort to find my dependable and however I could usage my dependable aft Simone had travel retired against Riley, it had truly affected me," Skinner said. "I person a small daughter, and we are hoping to enactment her successful sports soon, and I conscionable truly privation her to person everything that I got to have, each the opportunities."

Skinner, who won an Olympic metallic medal successful vault astatine the Tokyo Games, said her ain diversion vocation shaped her presumption of the issue.

"I’ve breached records, I’ve been an Olympian, I was a assemblage athlete, and I privation her to person the opportunities that I had," Skinner said of her daughter. "And truthful this, for me, was a mode that I felt similar this is the clip for maine to travel up and basal for what I judge in, basal with Riley, and to articulation successful connected this fight."

Skinner past turned her attraction straight to Biles.

"I deliberation it would conscionable beryllium truly chill to spot Simone basal with us," Skinner said. "She’s 1 of the champion athletes successful the world."

Skinner said she wants to spot much elite pistillate athletes articulation Gaines, XX-XY Athletics laminitis Jennifer Sey and others successful the movement.

"To beryllium capable to spot her arsenic my teammate, arsenic an Olympian, arsenic an astonishing jock that she is, to beryllium capable to basal with america and combat alongside Riley and everyone other connected this road," Skinner said. "I would conscionable love, emotion to spot my teams, particularly Simone, successful measurement with us."

Gaines, a erstwhile University of Kentucky swimmer who became 1 of the astir salient advocates against transgender athletes successful women’s sports aft tying transgender swimmer Lia Thomas astatine the 2022 NCAA championships, antecedently called connected Biles to basal with her connected the contented successful a March interrogation with Fox News Digital, months earlier Biles' societal media attack.

Gaines renewed her telephone to Biles, alongside Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, to basal connected her side, aft Tuesday's SCOTUS ruling.

"Let this beryllium a clarion call, not conscionable to Simone, but to every, I deliberation particularly elite pistillate athlete, nonrecreational pistillate athlete, the likes of Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, Serena Williams, to nexus arms," Gaines said.

Gaines added that the ruling made her consciousness "absolutely vindicated."

"I feel, of course, excited, I consciousness optimistic astir the future," Gaines said. "But I deliberation the feeling that I consciousness the astir of is vindicated.

"Being a mom, I look astatine her and I deliberation of the state and the satellite that I privation her to inherit," Gaines said of her daughter. "It’s a much fair, much safe, much prosperous, much opportunistic world, country."

"Let it beryllium known that you besides deliberation young girls are worthy of calling themselves champions 1 day," Gaines added.

Biles’ feud with Gaines began June 6, 2025, aft Gaines drew attraction to a biologically antheral transgender softball pitcher who helped a Minnesota girls’ squad triumph a authorities championship. Biles called Gaines "truly sick," a "straight up sore loser" and a "bully," and aboriginal suggested Gaines was the "same size" arsenic a male, according to Fox News Digital. Biles aboriginal deleted the posts and apologized.

The feud besides became a turning constituent for Skinner.

Skinner had already endured her ain nationalist clash with Biles aft she posted a video astir the 2024 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics squad and made comments astir the team’s "talent and depth." Biles responded astatine the clip with the post, "Not everyone needs a mic and a platform," and Skinner aboriginal apologized portion saying her remarks were misinterpreted. Skinner told Fox News Digital past twelvemonth that the backlash included decease threats and messages saying she "shouldn’t beryllium a mom."

Skinner aboriginal joined XX-XY Athletics arsenic an ambassador successful the brand’s "Gold Medal Campaign," aligning herself with Gaines, Sey, Olympic swimmer Nancy Hogshead and different salient activists successful the "Save Women’s Sports" space.

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Riley Gaines, Simone Biles, MyKayla Skinner (Getty Images)

When asked whether she believes Biles genuinely meant what she said to Gaines past year, Skinner did not hesitate.

"100% yes," Skinner said. "I’ve known Simone since I was 13 years old, and we’ve had our moments. There’s times wherever she has belittled maine arsenic an athlete, arsenic a person, bullied. And truthful this wasn’t a daze to maine erstwhile she came retired against Riley."

Skinner said she believes Biles "stands firm" successful her position, but hopes that tin change.

"Being astatine this level and being a mom, we look up to these astonishing athletes," Skinner said. "I truly deliberation that she’s not connected this broadside with us, and I truly would emotion to spot her travel guardant and possibly alteration her mind."

Gaines agreed that Biles’ archetypal comments reflected her existent views, portion suggesting the apology that followed felt much similar public-relations cleanup.

"You could adjacent announcement the precise evident code power betwixt the archetypal tweet oregon 2 and the precise ChatGPT-coded apology," Gaines said.

Gaines said she accepted Biles’ apology and would inactive beryllium consenting to "link arms" with the Olympic gymnastics legend.

"That’s benignant of similar h2o disconnected the duck’s backmost to me," Gaines said.

But Gaines said she believes the backlash Biles faced aft her posts whitethorn person revealed a taste displacement connected the issue.

"I deliberation it took that for her to realize, ‘Oh dang, I deliberation I was surviving successful my ain small bubble here,’" Gaines said. "Maybe the radical I surrounded myself with deliberation this, but bulk of Americans don’t."

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The Supreme Court’s ruling does not unit each authorities oregon schoolhouse to follow bans connected transgender athletes successful girls’ and women’s sports. The tribunal said the cases did not contiguous the abstracted question of whether schools whitethorn let biologic males who place arsenic pistillate to vie connected girls’ and women’s teams.

But for Gaines and Skinner, Tuesday’s determination marked a defining ineligible triumph — and different accidental to unit immoderate of the biggest names successful women’s sports to prime a side.