OPINION:
Gold medal gymnast Simone Biles should quit — again.
Over the weekend, she picked a fight with women’s rights activist and former college swimmer Riley Gaines over Ms. Gaines’ criticism of the Minnesota State High School League for celebrating a statewide softball championship won by a male pitcher.
Marissa Rothenberger, the transgender pitcher, threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out six in the championship Friday. Mr. Rothenberger pitched all 21 innings across three state tournament games, allowing just two runs across 35 total innings in the postseason.
Ms. Gaines, who rose to fame after she tied at the NCAA swim championships with male Lia Thomas in 2022 and then became an outspoken advocate for women in women’s sports, commented on social media about the Minnesota softball victory: “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”
Ms. Biles responded: “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 things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”
Ms. Biles continued her rant: “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male @Riley_Gaines.”
To which I say, read the room, Ms. Biles.
Within the past two weeks, a male has led a girls’ team to a statewide victory in Minnesota and AB Hernandez, a biological male, won two girls’ events at the California high school track and field championship. In Oregon, two female high-jumpers refused to stand on a podium with a transgender athlete out of protest because it’s simply not fair for biological females to have to compete with biological males.
Nearly 80% of Americans agree, according to a poll conducted this year by The New York Times/Ipsos. Of the people who identified as Democratic or as leaning Democratic, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.
In February, President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from female sports, prompting backlash from Democratic-majority states. In April, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a lawsuit against Mr. Trump’s order, and the state failed to pass a bill that would have barred biological males from girls’ and women’s sports. Minnesota is under federal investigation for potential Title IX violations.
Although California Gov. Gavin Newsom thinks it’s “deeply unfair” to allow transgender women and girls to compete in female sports, he did nothing to protect his state’s female athletes in track and field. As a result, Mr. Trump threatened California’s state funding.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, vowed not to enforce what she considered Mr. Trump’s “anti-trans” executive orders. In April, the Justice Department sued Maine for violating Title IX.
Some Democrats are beginning to realize this is a losing issue for them and are backing off.
Rahm Emanuel, who is said to be considering a presidential run in 2028, has repeatedly said his party should “stop talking about bathrooms and locker rooms and start talking about the classroom.” Comedian Bill Maher has predicted that Democrats will “lose every election” without a shift on transgender issues.
Still, the liberal wing of the party — led by Ms. Biles and supported by the likes of USA Today, which applauded Ms. Biles for showing “her greatness again for standing up for the transgender community” — won’t leave the issue alone.
Ms. Biles is undoubtedly a world-class athlete, but her mental weakness has let her down before. In 2021, she quit the team competition early at the Tokyo Olympics after performing poorly on one piece of equipment.
“It sucks when you’re fighting with your own head,” Ms. Biles explained. “When you think what everybody is going to think, the internet … you just feel the weight of the world.”
At the time, Ms. Biles was largely heralded for bringing attention to mental health issues and caring for herself, not criticized for abandoning her team, which had to fight for silver without her.
Now that she has left competition altogether, never having to compete against a male, signing million-dollar advertising contracts and a Netflix deal, she has become an advocate for men to strip other women of opportunities in sports.
It’s time for Simone Biles to quit, again.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor and a columnist for The Washington Times.
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