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A little over a year ago, Simone Biles arrived at Riley Gaines.
In the now-infamous It ignited pop culture’s biggest flashpoint in the “Save Women’s Sports” movement.
Now, a little over a year later, Gaines has a close ally in Biles’ former teammate on the US Olympic gymnastics team, MyKayla Skinner. Gaines and Skinner on Tuesday celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold state laws protecting women’s sports and sent a message to Biles a year after the infamous social media dispute.
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Mykayla Skinner and Simone Biles of Team USA pose for a photo during women’s podium training ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Center on July 22, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
“Just being able to try to find my voice and how I could use it after Simone came out against Riley, it really affected me,” Skinner said. “I have a little daughter and we hope she will play sports soon, and I really want her to have everything that I have to have, all the opportunities.”
Skinner, who won an Olympic silver medal in vault at the Tokyo Games, said his own athletics career shaped his view of the subject.
“I’ve broken records, I’ve been an Olympian, I’ve been a college athlete and I want her to have the opportunities that I had,” Skinner said of her daughter. “And this, for me, was a way that I felt like this was the time to stand up and stand up for what I believe in, support Riley and join this fight.”
Skinner then turned his attention directly to Biles.
“I think it would be great to see Simone be with us,” Skinner said. “She is one of the best athletes in the world.”
Skinner said he wants to see more elite 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 incredible athlete, to be able to be with us and fight alongside Riley and everyone else on this journey,” Skinner said. “I would love to see my teams, especially Simone, keep up 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 called on Biles to support her on the issue in a March interview with Pak Gazette Digital, months before Biles’ social media attack.
Gaines renewed his call for Biles, along with Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, to take his side, following Tuesday’s SCOTUS ruling.
“Let this be a wake-up call, not just for Simone, but for everyone, I think especially for the elite female athletes, the professional athletes, like Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, Serena Williams, to join arms,” Gaines said.
Gaines added that the ruling made her feel “absolutely vindicated.”
“Of course, I’m excited and optimistic about the future,” Gaines said. “But I think the feeling I feel most is justified.
“Being a mother, I look at her and think about the country and the world I want her to inherit,” Gaines said of her daughter. “It is a fairer, safer, more prosperous and more opportunistic country.”
“Let it be known that you, too, believe that young women are worthy of calling themselves champions one day,” Gaines added.
Biles’ feud with Gaines began on June 6, 2025, after Gaines called attention to a biologically male transgender softball pitcher who helped a Minnesota women’s team win a state championship. Biles called Gaines “really sick,” a “sore loser” and a “bully,” and then suggested that Gaines was “the same size” as a man, according to Pak Gazette Digital. Biles later deleted the posts and apologized.
The dispute also became a turning point for Skinner.
Skinner had already endured his own public confrontation with Biles after she posted a video about the 2024 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team and made comments about the team’s “talent and depth.” Biles responded at the time by posting, “Not everyone needs a microphone and a platform,” and Skinner later apologized, saying her comments were misinterpreted. Skinner told Pak Gazette Digital last year that the reaction included death threats and messages saying she “shouldn’t be a mother.”
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 he 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 and we’ve had our moments. There are times where she put me down as an athlete, as a person, and she bullied me. So it wasn’t a surprise to me when she came out against Riley.”
Skinner said he believes Biles is “standing firm” on her position, but hopes that can change.
“Being at this level and being a mother, we look up to these incredible athletes,” Skinner said. “I really think she’s not on this side 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 actual views, while suggesting that the apology that followed felt more like a PR cleanup.
“You might even notice the very obvious change in tone between the initial tweet or two and the apology encoded in ChatGPT,” Gaines said.
Gaines said she accepted Biles’ apology and would still be willing to “link arms” with the Olympic gymnastics legend.
“To me that’s like falling water,” Gaines said.
But Gaines said he believes the backlash Biles faced after her posts may have revealed a cultural shift on the issue.
“I think it took that for her to realize, ‘Oh, hell, 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 ruling does not force all states or schools to adopt bans on transgender athletes in women’s and girls’ sports. The court said the cases did not present the separate issue of whether schools can 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 opportunity to pressure some of the biggest names in women’s sports to choose sides.
