Although Riley Gaines was already known within the swimming community for her athletic accomplishments, she gained much wider recognition in recent months for speaking out in favor of prohibiting biological males from competing in women’s sports.
During one NCAA competition last year, she was required to share a locker room with Lia Thomas, a biological male who had recently begun identifying as a female.
Not only was she left with the mental image of that experience, but she narrowly lost the championship to the much taller Thomas.
Since speaking out against the growing trend of self-identified transgender athletes joining — and often dominating — women’s sports, Gaines has been subjected to verbal and physical attacks from those who believe her cause is inherently transphobic.
One of the 23-year-old swimmer’s many online critics is far-left political commentator Keith Olbermann, who determined that, despite a record that would be the envy of almost all of her peers, Gaines only lost to Thomas because she “sucked at swimming.”
Proving once again that she is not afraid to confront her detractors head-on, she took to social media with a brief overview of shelves crowded with trophies and a recitation of some of her many honors, including her selection as the Southeastern Conference’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
In response to Olbermann’s clearly inaccurate take on her swimming skills, Gaines replied: “Ah, makes sense now why you got fired from ESPN.”
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, included context below Olbermann’s initial post that further exposed his opinion as patently false.
“Riley Gaines was a very successful swimmer ending her College ‘Wildcat’ career as one of the most decorated swimmers in the program’s history,” the fact-check asserted. “She played an instrumental role in the Wildcats clinching their first-ever conference championship title, in 2021.”
That did not stop him from taking another mean-spirited swipe at Gaines, however.
Second team all-conference. Happily for nasty, stupid, unsuccessful transphobe @Riley_Gaines_ she has no reputation to ruin
Anyhoo, don't forget to listen to the Countdown podcast because Trump also sucks: https://t.co/IFzDwY6MdN pic.twitter.com/hkc52w4YOV
— Keith Olbermann⌚️ (@KeithOlbermann) August 31, 2023
Gaines appeared to get the last word when, upon picking up one of her many trophies, she asserted: “Keith, I’d be really sad if I broke this trying to prove a point to an old man who can’t even seem to keep a job, but I’ve got more of these — so I’m not. Thanks, Keith!”
