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- Sports. Danica Patrick piles on Simone Biles criticism over transgender athlete remarks
A heated online debate has erupted this week as 11-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles took a public stance ing transgender athletes, drawing fierce backlash from former ESPN anchor Sage Steele.
The controversy began after Biles criticized Riley Gaines over comments the latter made about a transgender softball player competing in a Minnesota high school league.
The firestorm began when Gaines posted a comment on X about a transgender teenager named Marissa Rothenberger, who helped lead her high school softball team to a championship win.
Rothenberger, who began her gender transition at age nine, had been approved to play under Minnesota rules after undergoing a formal review process.
Gaines responded to the team's celebratory post, writing: "Comments off lol. To be expected when your star player is a boy."
Biles swiftly clapped back at Gaines, accusing her of bullying and undermining transgender inclusion in sports.
"@Riley_Gaines You're truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. 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!! But instead... You bully them... One thing's for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!" Biles wrote.
Sage Steele fires back
Not long after Biles' tweet, conservative sports commentator Sage Steele fired back in defense of Gaines. Steele, who left ESPN in 2023 following a high-profile legal battle, strongly criticized Biles for attacking a fellow female athlete and dismissed her comments as out of touch.
"Easy to say this, Simone Biles, when you only had to compete against fellow women. Every one of your Olympic medals came competing against fellow women," Steele tweeted on Friday. "Riley Gaines was not only forced to compete against a man, but forced to share a locker room with a man. THAT is SICK.
"Shocked and disappointed that you'd attack another woman who has done nothing but uplift other women," she wrote. "If YOU think it makes sense to create a league for trans people, go for it! Use that huge platform of yours! But to attack Riley for what she has done for little girls who want to be the next Simone Biles is........sick."