Fact Check: Was Simone Biles suspended from Team USA over her comments to Riley Gaines?

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Gymnastics icon Simone Biles and former NCAA swimmer-turned-activist Riley Gaines had an online feud last week, where the Olympic gold medalist publicly condemned Gaines for what she called a targeted attack on a transgender high school athlete.

The feud escalated when Riley Gaines called out the Olympic gold medalist's old tweet amid a row over trans athletes, where Biles seemed to agree with Gaines’ stance.

Amid this, a rumor circulated online claiming that Biles was suspended from Team USA over online comments she made to Gaines. But is there any truth to this? Let's find out below.

Claim: Simone Biles was suspended from Team USA over comments to Riley Gaines

A rumor circulated on Facebook in June that gymnast Simone Biles, the 11-time Olympic medalist, was suspended from competing for Team USA over her comments on Riley Gaines, the anti-transgender activist. 

The Facebook page 'America's Last Line Of Defense' posted a picture that read, "Simone Biles has been suspended from competing with Team USA pending a disciplinary hearing after her body-shaming incident with fellow women's sports champion Riley Gaines."

The post further read, "Simone's comments crossed the line. We advocate for women at all costs. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying."

The caption of the Facebook post read, "Team USA was quick to act. They don't tolerate that level of unprofessionalism."

The Facebook page also posted a reel that seemed to back the same claim.

False: The Facebook post has been labeled as satire

The claims made in the Facebook post are false, as there is no credible evidence to prove that Simone Biles was suspended from Team USA over her online comments on Riley Gaines, according to Snopes.

Moreover, a search on search engines, such as Google and Bing, showed no credible results or news articles from reputable media houses, per the fact-checking outlet.

Furthermore, the rumor originated from 'America's Last Line of Defense', a network of social media pages and websites that describes its content as humorous or satirical, Snopes reported.

The Facebook page bio reads, "The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery and propaganda for cash. Nothing on this page is real."

Simone Biles and Riley Gaines feud

The feud between Simone Biles and Riley Gaines started when the former NCAA swimmer posted a photo of the Class AAAA Minnesota high school softball state championship team with the caption "Comments off lol. To be expected when your star player is a boy."

Following this, Biles responded and called Gaines "truly sick" and a "sore loser".

The Olympic winner said Gaines should try to support the trans community or find a way to make sports more inclusive.

She said, "But instead … You bully them. One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!"

Moreover, she later posted a follow-up, telling Gaines to "bully someone [her] own size, which would ironically be a male."

Meanwhile, Gaines unearthed a nearly decade-old tweet by Biles on Sunday, June 8, where the Olympian seemed to agree with Gaines’ stance.

The 2017 tweet read, "Ahhhh good thing guys don’t compete against girls or he’d take all the gold medals !!" as she apparently responded to the men’s division results at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Canada, per the New York Post.

Gaines reshared the post and wrote, "Oop don’t you hate it when your past self completely undermines your current nonsensical argument?"