What's On Martina Navratilova's Mind?
Martina on Simone Biles, Riley Gaines, Misogyny, and Men
Dear Readers,
Welcome back to Women’s Sports Policy. This is a story about Simone Biles — and the need to listen, learn, and grow. — Martina Navratilova
“Hey Simone, I would love to talk to you about this.” - Martina
This week, Olympic champion Simone Biles made a fool of herself by attacking women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines on X, calling her “truly sick,” a “sore loser,” and a “bully”:
This was weird and wrong. For one thing, Riley Gaines did not lose. She tied Lia Thomas, the male swimmer at the 2022 NCAA National Championships. Riley is a 12-time NCAA All-American.
Also, Riley has no interest in “uplifting the trans community,” as she explains in this response to Simone. She’s too busy trying to save women’s sports from men who “identify as women,” whatever that means. Only men can “identify as” a woman. Therefore: They’re men.
As for “maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!!”… That’s an admission of male performance advantage. Otherwise, why a separate category? Also, it’s been tried at Swimming’s World Cup in Berlin in 2023. There were no takers, and trans activists called the option “othering” and “damaging.”
Biles also tried to body-shame Gaines with this strange comment:
Gaines is five-six, 130 pounds. And Simone herself? This is what strong women look like. Neither one looks like a man.
Anyway, I figured a little education might help. After all, I’ve been studying this issue for more than five years now, and Simone has not. Obviously. So I publicly invited Simone to have a private chat. She and I had met last year at the U.S. Open.
“Hey Simone, I would love to talk to you about this,” I wrote on X. “Pretty sure there is more to it than you know at this time… Respectfully, Martina.”
I thought Simone might want to know what the research says, or what the polls say (75 percent of U.S. adults want no males in female sports) or what female athletes ourselves are saying. She did not reply.
Yet she once engaged in a good-natured competition with a male gymnast, laughing when she failed. “Good thing guys don’t compete against girls,” she wrote in a 2017 tweet. She never would have been awarded with 11 Olympic medals or 30 World Championships if men were allowed to compete in women’s gymnastics.
Here’s a video showing two Olympic champions (Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson) reacting with shock and even envy as they watch male gymnasts acing women’s stunts, exclaiming, “Omigosh! Stunning. Insane. Humbling. I can’t do that.”
Fans and allies, including Olympic cyclist Inga Thomson, offered me support:
But because I seem to be a lightning rod for misogynists, I also got trolled about having welcomed Renee Richards into women’s tennis in the seventies:
I have explained this many times.
Four days later, Simone wrote:
I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport… and it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for. These are sensitive, complicated issues… but I believe it starts with empathy and respect. I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports… Individual athletes—especially kids—should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over… We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful. Xoxo Simone
The Twitterverse was not forgiving. Here’s Kim Shasby Jones, founder of ICONS:
“Of course kids can be criticized! No boys have a right to hide their sex to take advantage of girls or girls’ opportunities.”
Here’s the author of HeCheated.org:
“These are not complicated issues unless you don't believe female human beings are deserving of the same rights and respect as males.”
Here’s feminist Kara Dansky:
“All ~8 billion of us are mammals and we're all either female or male. There is nothing "inclusive" about pretending otherwise.”
Then there was Jen Sey, founder of XX-XY Athletics,
“Oh jeez, you need a new PR Team. This is a very lame apology.“
Nevertheless, my offer still stands.
Simone: Reach out any time. I’d welcome a conversation.
And we welcome your comments. Want more from Martina? Let us know. — Women’s Sports Policy Working Group
Martina, GREAT point about nobody registering for the third, trans category! People always bring this up when we discuss women’s sports. It may not be a viable solution.
My hope is that the women’s sports debate will turn the tide on public opinion, since it’s just simply and obviously unfair.
In most social justice issues, like civil rights or gay rights, the terms fair and equal are on the same side. “I can get married, it’s only fair a gay person can get married. I can drink from this water fountain, it’s only fair everyone can drink from this water fountain.” I’m not special or superior.
Trans rights are different, equal is not fair, mostly to women.
Hopefully, stopping the medicalization of minors, which is exponentially worse than the sports problem, will follow suit. As a lifelong Democrat often accused of being a nasty conservative when this issue comes up, I always point to the fact that the world’s most liberal countries (in Scandinavia) are more aligned with the American GOP on this issue than the American Dems.
Thanks to Martina, and all of you at WSPWG, for your unwavering, forthright advocacy for women and girls. Simone Biles absolutely does need to take Martina up on the offer of a private conversation. She has a lot to learn—and she definitely owes Riley Gaines a personal, public apology. What she wrote about Gaines that is shown here is appalling—I write this as someone who does not share Gaines’s politics overall, but, to quote Martina: “Riley is not the problem.” Simone Biles, however, has shown herself to be part of the problem. So disappointing.