Riley Gaines Creates Waves by Criticizing ‘Unjust’ Regulations After Competing Against Lia Thomas..

Riley’s stance, at odds with prevailing progressive ideology, Gaines received an overwhelmingly positive response to her advocacy.

Riley Gaines clearly didn’t get the word out, because if there’s one thing college swimmers don’t dare say, it’s that they believe competing against Lia Thomas is inappropriate.

The University of Kentucky senior star is breaking the virtual code of silence surrounding college swimmers by talking about Thomas, the first male athlete to win an NCAA Division I women’s championship.

Gaines said in a statement to The Washington Times, “I feel like it’s so blatant it’s unfair.” “I’m just trying to stand up and do my part to help,” the spokesman said.

Since sharing the platform with Thomas at the NCAA finals, Gaines has been interviewed by right-leaning media sites including the Daily Wire, Fox’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the Clay Travis and Buck Se*ton podcast, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee. last month.

It is completely incorrect. While I realize I can’t speak for everyone, I’m pretty sure I can speak for the vast majority of female athletes. That’s just not right, she said during her interview with Fox on April 6. “When we race biological males, we’re dealing with something that’s completely out of our control.”

After tying with Lia Thomas at the #NCAA Championships, Riley Gaines is speaking up on behalf of female athletes about how unfair it is that biological males are taking opportunities away from women in sports.

Riley believes in the integrity of single-sex sports. Read her story.

— Independent Women’s Forum (@IWF) April 13, 2022

Gaines made headlines Wednesday when she spoke in the Kentucky State Senate to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of Senate Bill 83, popularly known as the Save Women’s Sports Act.

The override made Kentucky the 15th state to ban male athletes from participating in women’s sports.

Republican Senator Robby Mills, who is sponsoring the bill, said on the floor that he had a visitor who had just fallen victim to this unfair competition.

She represents the University of Kentucky and is an All-American student-athlete, he added. “I’d like to thank Riley for being herself because she was affected by competing with a transgender [athlete] and Riley recently started bravely telling her story about what happened over the past month at the SEC competition.”

The 21-year-old swimmer undoubtedly has a story to tell. A day after Thomas won the 500 freestyle at the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming Championships in Atlanta last month, she finished sixth in the 200-yard freestyle alongside Thomas.

He just replied, “We’re giving the trophy to Lia, but great swimming,” when she asked him to explain.

According to her, Thomas is nearby, but he is silent. Gaines received the sixth-place trophy and posed on the podium with Thomas in that position. She said her fifth-place trophy had just arrived in the mail.

The NCAA did not respond when contacted for comment.

“It’s not about the award. I have a lot of awards,” Gaines noted. “I often hear people say things like, ‘Oh, sad loser, she didn’t get a fifth-place medal,’ to which I reply. “That’s not the point. In fact, it only involves demonstrating their response to the circumstance. They acted like they didn’t want to look terrible, so they did it to appease this minority and save face.”

Although most of the other collegiate swimmers remain silent, Gaines claimed that several of them have been in touch to support her.

She said “a ton” of them came from the University of Pennsylvania, where Thomas competed for three years before transferring to the women’s team.

Thomas was cleared to compete after using testosterone-suppressing medication that year, which the NCAA said was necessary at the time. During the 2021–22 season, the Ivy League swimmer broke many records before taking first place in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division I Women’s Championships in Atlanta.

Gaines claimed that rather than being angry, the atmosphere at the championship was “gloomy”. She noticed the contestants crying when Thomas swam during the first laps.

The several University of Pennsylvania swimmers expressed concern about Thomas swimming for the women’s team all season in anonymous notes to news organizations, claiming they feared accusations of transphobia and were warned by their coaches not to speak to the media.

Gaines praised the University of Kentucky’s strategy, saying, “I have an amazingly supportive athletic department that supports me whether they agree with me or not.”

Gaines stated, “There is a fear that you would ruin your sports career or your professional job if you say something.” It is clear that people are afraid. But I say, “Well, I’m not afraid.” I’m older. I am capable of it.

Reka Gyorgy, a fifth-year senior at Virginia Tech who released a statement on Instagram just after the championships criticizing the NCAA for not protecting female athletes, is the only other NCAA Division I swimmer to speak out specifically.

According to Gyorgy, who finished 17th in the 500 freestyle, just missing the consolation finals, it was like “the final spot was taken away from me because of the NCAA’s decision to let someone who isn’t biologically female compete.

Stanford’s Brooke Forde and Texas’ Erica Sullivan, who both competed against Thomas at the championships, are among those publicly supporting Thomas.

In a March 18 op-ed in Newsweek, Sullivan wrote, “Lia doesn’t win every time in this sport as everyone else does.” And when he does, he deserves, like everyone else in the sport, to be praised for it. her hard-won success, not branded a fraud just because of her identity,” the statement read.

The NCAA has not publicly responded since Thomas’ victory, but in a letter obtained by Swimming World on March 28 and sent by NCAA President Mark Emmert, the group defended its revised transgender participation rules in January.

Mr. Emmert said the Board of Governors, the NCAA’s highest governing body, “strongly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in collegiate sports.”

Gaines, a senior, will soon graduate, ending her collegiate swimming career. She wants to go to dental school and get married when she graduates. Louis Barker, a former swimmer from Kentucky, is engaged to her.

She claims that she has received far more positive reactions than negative ones, despite the fact that her stance on male athletes competing in women’s sports is at odds with the progressive spirit of the times.

During her interview with Ms. Blackburn, Riley Gaines shared an important insight: speaking up and being heard is critical to making any meaningful change happen. She emphasized the importance of collective action, particularly among female athletes and women as a whole, to communicate a shared disagreement about the current state of affairs, the associated path being taken, and the potential long-term consequences that could unfold. coming years. Gaines emphasized the need for a unified voice to effectively express the widespread dissatisfaction with the current situation.

Riley Gaines has emerged as a vocal advocate for the fair treatment of female athletes in the face of transgender participation in women’s sports. Her willingness to speak out against the prevailing narrative has sparked debate and garnered support from athletes who share similar concerns but have been reluctant to voice them openly. While debates about transgender inclusion in sports remain complex and polarizing, Gaines and other athletes like Reka Gyorgy have taken a bold stand, emphasizing the need for thoughtful dialogue and a fair assessment of the impact on female athletes. As the future of women’s sports continues to evolve, finding a balance that ensures inclusivity while protecting the integrity of the competition is critical.