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Just over a year ago, Simone Biles came to Riley Gaines.
In now-infamous X-posts, Biles called out Gaines for talking about a transgender pitcher who won a Minnesota girls softball championship, mocking Gaines’ body by saying “bullying a person your own size, who ironically would be a man.” It ignited the biggest pop culture flashpoint of the “Save Women’s Sports” movement.
Now, just over a year later, Gaines has a close ally in Biles’ former U.S. Olympic gymnastics team teammate, MyKayla Skinner. Gaines and Skinner celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold state laws protecting women’s sports on Tuesday, sending a message to Biles a year after the infamous social media feud.
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Mykayla Skinner and Simone Biles of Team United pose for a photo during the women’s podium practice ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Center on July 22, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
“Just trying to find my voice and how to use my voice after Simone came out against Riley, that really affected me,” Skinner said. “I have a little daughter and we’re hoping to get her into sports soon and I just really want her to have everything that I need to have, all the opportunities.”
Skinner, who won an Olympic silver medal in jumping at the Tokyo Games, said her own athletic career shaped her view of the issue.
“I’ve broken records, I’ve been an Olympian, I was a college athlete, and I want her to have the opportunities that I had,” Skinner said of her daughter. “And so this, for me, was a way that I felt like this is the time for me to stand up and stand up for what I believe in, stand with Riley and join this fight.”
Skinner then turned his attention directly to Biles.
“I think it would be really cool to see Simone stand with us,” Skinner said. “She is one of the best athletes in the world.”
Skinner said she wants to see more elite female athletes join Gaines, XX-XY Athletics founder Jennifer Sey and others in the movement.
“To be able to see her as my teammate, as an Olympian, as an amazing athlete that she is, to be able to stand with us and fight alongside Riley and everyone else on this road,” Skinner said. “I would just love, love to see my teams, especially Simone, in step with us.”
Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer who became one of the most prominent advocates against transgender athletes in women’s sports after tying transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Championships, previously urged Biles to stand with her on the issue in a March interview with Pakinomist Digital, months before Biles’ social media attack.
Gaines renewed his call for Biles, along with Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, to stand by her after Tuesday’s SCOTUS ruling.
“Let this be a clarion call, not just to Simone, but to everybody, I think, especially elite female athletes, professional female athletes, like Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, Serena Williams, to link arms,” Gaines said.
Gaines added that the verdict made her feel “absolutely vindicated.”
“Obviously I feel excited, I feel optimistic about the future,” Gaines said. “But I think the feeling that I feel the most is confirmed.
“As a mother, I look at her and I think of the country and the world that I want her to inherit,” Gaines said of her daughter. “It’s a fairer, safer, more prosperous, more opportunistic world, one country.”
“Let it be known that you also think young girls are worthy of calling themselves champions one day,” Gaines added.
Biles’ feud with Gaines began on June 6, 2025, after Gaines drew attention to a biologically male transgender softball pitcher who helped a Minnesota girls team win a state championship. Biles called Gaines “really sick,” a “straight up sore loser” and a “bully,” and later suggested that Gaines was “the same size” as a man, according to Pakinomist Digital. Biles later deleted the posts and apologized.
The feud was also a turning point for Skinner.
Skinner had already endured her own public clash with Biles after she posted a video about the 2024 US Olympic women’s gymnastics team and made comments about the team’s “talent and depth.” Biles responded at the time with the post, “Not everyone needs a microphone and a platform,” and Skinner later apologized, saying her remarks were misinterpreted. Skinner told Pakinomist Digital last year that the backlash included death threats and messages saying she “shouldn’t be a mom.”
Skinner later joined XX-XY Athletics as an ambassador for the brand’s “Gold Medal Campaign,” aligning herself with Gaines, Sey, Olympic swimmer Nancy Hogshead and other prominent activists in the “Save Women’s Sports” space.
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Riley Gaines, Simone Biles, MyKayla Skinner (Getty Images)
When asked if she believes Biles really meant what she said to Gaines last year, Skinner didn’t hesitate.
“100% yes,” Skinner said. “I’ve known Simone since I was 13 years old and we’ve had our moments. There’s times where she’s put me down as an athlete, as a person, bullied me. And so it wasn’t a shock to me when she came out against Riley.”
Skinner said she believes Biles is “standing firm” in her position, but hopes that may change.
“Being at this level and being a mom, we look up to these amazing athletes,” Skinner said. “I really think she’s not on this page with us and I’d really love to see her come forward and maybe change her mind.”
Gaines agreed that Biles’ initial comments reflected her real views, while suggesting that the apology that followed felt more like a public relations cleanup.
“You could even notice the very distinct tone shift between the first tweet or two and the very ChatGPT-encoded apology,” Gaines said.
Gaines said she accepted Biles’ apology and would still be willing to “link arms” with the Olympic gymnastics legend.
“It’s kind of like water off a duck’s back to me,” Gaines said.
But Gaines said she believes the backlash Biles faced after her post may have revealed a cultural shift on the issue.
“I think it took her to realize, ‘Oh, I guess I was living in my own little bubble here,'” Gaines said. “Maybe the people I surrounded myself with think this, but most Americans don’t.”
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The Supreme Court’s ruling does not force any state or school to adopt bans on transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. The court said the cases did not present the separate issue of whether schools may allow biological males who identify as female to compete on girls’ and women’s teams.
But for Gaines and Skinner, Tuesday’s decision marked a decisive legal victory — and another chance to pressure some of the biggest names in women’s sports to choose sides.
