Did Simone Biles delete her X account? Olympic gymnast's past Twitter feud with Riley Gaines explored

Gymnast Simone Biles seems to have taken a break from social media. Following her reported online feud with former swimmer Riley Gaines, she has exited her X account. The reason for abandoning the platform is unknown, but rumors suggest it could be because of her alleged rift with Gaines. Her account now displays this message:

“This account doesn’t exist. Try searching for another.”

Meanwhile, Gaines reacted to Biles exiting the platform. Resharing a post on X, she wrote that she was disheartened to see a “phenom” like Biles go down. Gaines wrote about Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles:

“[She] has an incredibly unpopular and morally indefensible take — gets rightfully ridiculed for it — issues a groveling public apology after unrelenting backlash — deletes account to pretend it never happened.”

The backstory of their online clash goes back to June 7, 2025, when Riley Gaines shared an X post criticising the Minnesota State High School League, which posted the news of a recent win. The team had a transgender pitcher, targeting whom Gaines wrote:

"Comments off lol To be expected when your star player is a boy."

Simone Biles responded to the post, saying she acted out because she lost a race and called her a sore loser. She believed Riley Gaines should have supported the transgender community and worked toward making sports more inclusive, possibly by introducing a separate category for transgender athletes.

Instead, Biles felt Gaines was targeting and bullying them, and warned that her actions made sports feel unsafe for others.

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More about the feud between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines

Responding to Biles’ post, Riley Gaines expressed her disappointment and said she didn’t believe it was her responsibility, or any other woman’s, to work toward including men in spaces meant for women. She wrote:

“You can uplift men stealing championships in women's sports with YOUR platform. Men don't belong in women's sports and I say that with my full chest.”

In an X post, Simone Biles then wrote:

"Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male @Riley_Gaines_"

This triggered a response from Gaines, who said she found the situation disappointing, and believed her opinion was reasonable. She was surprised that Simone Biles, in her view, seemed to support men in women’s sports, suggesting it could hurt opportunities for young girls.

She also made a sarcastic remark about Biles competing in men’s gymnastics events at the 2028 Olympics. Riley Gaines also looked back on when Biles testified against Larry Nassar, who was charged with abuse. She wrote:

“All the horrific s*xual abuse @Simone_Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man's feelings. You know how many gold medals you'd have if your "inclusive" dream came true? Zero.”

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Riley Gaines recently announced she and her husband, Louis Barker, are expecting their first child. At a recent event, she seemingly targeted Simone Biles. Referring to Biles’ earlier comment, she sarcastically responded by pointing to her baby bump and questioning how many men could experience pregnancy.

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Read More: What happened between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines? Heated online exchange explained