As a huge gymnastics fan, I think it is absurd to suggest that women could beat men on any of the women's apparatus. Floor and vault are clear; men compete harder skills. Where there is overlap (eg Simone's hardest vault), men are competing skills of that difficult far more frequently and a better landing is expected as a result. Obviously, uneven bars would be an adjustment, but men compete much high levels of difficulty on high bar, and would indeed adjust and dominate. Balance beam used to require grace and flexibility. Now, with the new scoring system, it is a power event just like the others. Because the tumbling skills are easier for men, with practice, they would find it easier to stay on. Give a top male gymnast 12 -24 months, and he would annihilate Biles on all four events.
You might be a huge fan, but not a very informed one. Women's vault is 10cm lower than men's. That makes it harder to perform the same skill on the women's vault, especially if the gymnast is relatively tall. This was acknowledged by the male gymnasts who have performed the same Yurchenko double pike as Biles did (and there are only a handful of them).
Men's high bar is 28cm higher than the higher bar of women's uneven bars. That makes it so much harder to do the high level dismount, especially if the gymnast is relatively tall. The relatively small distance between two bars makes some of the release moves more difficult on uneven bars. Again, this is even more true if the gymnast is tall.
Then, there is beam. I don't know why you think it is easier for men to stay on beam. They have bigger feet. That should make it harder. And they will have hard time squeezing in the three jump combo (back handspring-layout-layout) because of their height. (There are some women who cannot do this because of their height.) And dismount from beam also poses greater challenge to men because of their height.
I am not a big fan of either person in this twitter battle. Biles attacked Gaines several times in very personal ways and does not attack Gaines' stance on a serious issue.
That's.
Because.
It's.
About.
Gaines.
Bullying.
A.
Child.
Make up your minds. The trans cheaters are “children” when their advantages are pointed out, yet they’re supposedly old enough to decide that they want body parts clipped off, etc.
Goddess Biles would literally snap you in half with her powerful legs.
Maybe. But she’d get dominated by a garden-variety scrub male gymnast. Which is the problem at-hand.
Simone biles floor and vault routines are competitive at the American elite male level (the only events shared between men and women). She wouldn't win, or even finish in the top handful, but she'd wipe the floor with a typical scrub-male gymnast.
But I assume you don't follow gymnastics, so you wouldn't know this. Her performances (when she doesn't fall) are probably equivalent to a 27:20 10k, that's how far ahead of the other women she is.
This post was edited 6 minutes after it was posted.
Biles was either drunk or forced by her Friends of the Children sponsor to post something that clueless. Either way it's sad to see her image get permanently tarnished. Pressure is already mounting on other sponsors to drop her.
Make up your minds. The trans cheaters are “children” when their advantages are pointed out, yet they’re supposedly old enough to decide that they want body parts clipped off, etc.
So...
You are saying that if a person can take a role in medical and life decisions, they deserve to be bullied.
I am not a big fan of either person in this twitter battle. Biles attacked Gaines several times in very personal ways and does not attack Gaines' stance on a serious issue. Biles' body shamed (and in a stupid way) Gaines. Something I find surprising coming from a woman in a sport where body shaming is rampant. (Also the "pick on someone your own size" is funny since Gaines is 5-5.)
People think just because Biles has won a lot of medals that her opinion is more valuable or better reasoned than Gaines'? Well Martina Navratilova is (arguable) Biles' equal in sport accomplishments and sides with Gaines. How do those who believe this reconcile that?
There is a lot I do not like about Riley Gaines. I fall on her side regarding protecting women's sports, but apart from that I find her repugnant.
Gaines did start this battle due to her being harmed by a transathlete. That is normal. People often take up a cause because of some personal connection. Biles, as near as I can tell, has never been in a competition with a cis-male.
I am ignoring the whole Biles would beat any male gymnast since they play by different rules and scoring. But it would be interesting to see the vault and floor competed in one division to see. (Women, smaller women anyway, have certain advantages in many aspects of gymnastics over men.)
As a huge gymnastics fan, I think it is absurd to suggest that women could beat men on any of the women's apparatus. Floor and vault are clear; men compete harder skills. Where there is overlap (eg Simone's hardest vault), men are competing skills of that difficult far more frequently and a better landing is expected as a result. Obviously, uneven bars would be an adjustment, but men compete much high levels of difficulty on high bar, and would indeed adjust and dominate. Balance beam used to require grace and flexibility. Now, with the new scoring system, it is a power event just like the others. Because the tumbling skills are easier for men, with practice, they would find it easier to stay on. Give a top male gymnast 12 -24 months, and he would annihilate Biles on all four events.
I find it very sad to see Biles defending transwomen in sports. She has been rightly celebrated for her incredible athletic achievements in her protected division. Other female athletes in running and boxing and swimming have been denied that, thanks to XY athletes. I think her view is very self-centered and short-sighted. It's also the easy position, still. It's still the "in" thing to be "inclusive." The reason we have spokeswomen like Riley Gaines who are very rough around the edges is that the cost is so high people who care about their image or derive social capital from being liberal or progressive are unwilling to speak out. I could understand if Biles stayed silent - but to actively speak up against protecting women's sports is really sad.
I'm curious, can you provide examples of Gaines being "rough around the edges?" Thanks.
I am not a big fan of either person in this twitter battle. Biles attacked Gaines several times in very personal ways and does not attack Gaines' stance on a serious issue.
That's.
Because.
It's.
About.
Gaines.
Bullying.
A.
Child.
Your reading comprehension is as piss-poor as Biles’ is.
Read her X post again. "…your best player is a boy.” She’s not addressing the boy; she’s addressing the school officials and other (alleged) adults that allowed this utter nonsense to occur.
For those who don't think men could dominate women in the women's events. And keep in mind, the men never practice any of these events; they just did them on a whim. Nastia Liukin: 5 gold, 8 silver, 1 bronze and Johnson: 4 gold, 3 silver at the Olympics and World Championships.
Your reading comprehension is as piss-poor as Biles’ is.
Read her X post again. "…your best player is a boy.” She’s not addressing the boy; she’s addressing the school officials and other (alleged) adults that allowed this utter nonsense to occur.
99% of adult readers and 100% of kids understand that Gaines post is bullying.
Maybe you don't, but that's on you.
Obviously this post is negative toward the child and brings unwanted attention to all of the children involved.
Absolute clownery to pretend otherwise.
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
Do you have the courage of your convictions to say you would be OK with a celebrity finding your daughter's sports team photos and ridiculing them across social media for likes?
For those who don't think men could dominate women in the women's events. And keep in mind, the men never practice any of these events; they just did them on a whim. Nastia Liukin: 5 gold, 8 silver, 1 bronze and Johnson: 4 gold, 3 silver at the Olympics and World Championships.
After Gaines criticized a Minnesota softball team with a trans pitcher, Biles called her 'truly sick' and told her to 'bully someone your own size, which would ironically be male'.
I read the piece...it looks like she is also softening what appeared to be a "let transgirls" in sports. I think Biles can make a legit argument for leaving specific minors out of the crosshairs, but rather than make a reasoned argument she went personal and body shaming.
Your reading comprehension is as piss-poor as Biles’ is.
Read her X post again. "…your best player is a boy.” She’s not addressing the boy; she’s addressing the school officials and other (alleged) adults that allowed this utter nonsense to occur.
To amplify and add to your point: Riley Gaines made this particular X post on June 6 in direct response to an X post made earlier that same day by the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL).
The MSHSL is the governing body that makes the eligbility rules which say who can join which high school sports teams and participate in boys' and girls' interscholastic HS sports competitions in MN.
The post made by the MSHSL that Gaines was responding to showed a recent photograph of the Champlin Park girls' softball team, which made headlines for a string of stunning victories this year that culminated in the team winning the state girls' AAAA softball championship earlier this month.
The message the Minnesota state high school sports governing body posted above the photo reads as follows:
Minnesota High School League @MSHSL Jun 6
Meet Champlin Park, the Class AAAA Softball State Champion for 2025.
Below the photo, the time and date are shown, along with a notice revealing that the people in charge of communications and PR at the MSHSL decided not to allow anyone from the general public to reply to its post:
12:20 PM · Jun 6, 2025
Who can reply? Accounts @MSHSL follows or mentioned can reply
As has been widely reported by mainstream press outlets, on social media, and by the MSHSL itself, the reason that Champlin Park won the girls state AAAA title - and won it easily - is because the pitcher on the Champlin Park girls' team is a 17-year-old boy who has consistently struck out most of the female batters on opposing teams by turning in "star performances" in the many girls' games he's pitched in all year.
In published accounts that anyone with an internet connection and search engine can see, the mainstream media, the MSHSL and the Champlin Park coach have described the 17-year-old male pitcher's performance in girls' softball and the string of shut-outs and victories he's led his team to this year as "dominating," "superb," "impressive," "amazing," "historic" and "unforgettable."
The photograph that the MSHSL chose to post on X for all the world to see on June 6 shows the face and physique of Marissa Rothenberger, the 17-year-old male who's the star pitcher for the Champlin Park girls' team, very clearly. What's more, in the photo the athletes are arranged in a way that makes the male player on this girls' team very easy to spot. Indeed, the way the photo is posed and shot makes the male player stand out.
In other words, by choosing to post this particular photo on X, the MSHSL made a deliberate decision to put the 17-year old boy in this case on public display on the internet for all the world to see.
After all, X is one of the most extremely high-profile and heavily-trafficked forums on the internet. Many more people see X posts than have accounts on the platform.
A couple of hours after the MSHSL made the post about the Champlin Park girls' softball team that was goadily designed to bring massive amounts of attention to the fact that the team's star pitcher is a 17-year old boy - but which MSHSL decided ahead of time no one from the public would be allowed to reply to - Riley Gaines made a post on X stating her reaction. In her post, Gaines copied & pasted the MHSL's earlier post exactly as it originally appeared, and said this:
Comments off lol
To be expected when your star player is a boy
2:35 PM · Jun 6, 2025
Gaines was not addressing her remarks directly at the 17-year-old boy, much less "bullying" him. She was directing her comments - and pointing the finger of blame - at the adults in MN who are responsible for allowing a 17-year-old boy to join a girls' HS softball team, play in girls' competitive softball games and tournaments, and "dominate" in girls' softball competition in the first place.
What's more, Gaines' comment didn't just criticize the MSHSL for making a post showing and celebrating a girls' HS softball team that won a state title because its star pitcher is a 17-year old boy who was allowed to hog the mound pretty much continually all season, giving him the chance to strike out girl after girl after girl again and again on all the opposing teams he played against.
Gaines' post was equally meant to critcize the MSHSL's decison to deny the public the right of reply to the particular post Gaines was taking issue with.
This post was edited 9 minutes after it was posted.
Champlin Park outscored their opponents 180-19, and MR batted in only 14 of those runs. They have a D1 bound player (Ava Parent) who went .312/.402/.494 with 11 SBs. She came up with a clutch game winning hit in their semifinal win.
Their best player is a sophomore OF (Avangeline Abrahamson) who went .408/.460/.776 with 4HR, 4 triples and 11 doubles. She was also their #2 pitcher with 9-1, 1.38 ERA and 72 SO in 56 IP. She is destined for a D1 team.
Their state title was a total team effort. But some people want to diminish the achievement of these girls in order to promote their agenda.
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.
