Riley Gaines claps back after AOC mocks her for NCAA race tie with trans swimmer Lia Thomas

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines has fired back at Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after the congresswoman mocked her for tying with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.

On Monday, October 27, Gaines and Ocasio-Cortez engaged in a heated exchange on X after the congresswoman responded to one of the athlete’s posts with a jab referencing their well-known race. Gaines, who has become a vocal advocate for keeping biological males out of women’s sports, didn’t hold back.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocks Riley Gaines for tying with Lia Thomas

The controversy reignited when Gaines shared a photo of Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and Zohran Mamdani at the “New York Is Not For Sale” rally, captioning it, “We’re being destroyed from within.”

Ocasio-Cortez quickly shot back, writing, “Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth.”

Her remark referred to the 200-yard freestyle final at the 2022 NCAA Championships, where Gaines and Thomas tied for fifth place. Thomas, who had previously competed on the men’s team at the University of Pennsylvania, became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA women’s title that year.

Riley Gaines fires back with fiery posts

Unwilling to let the jab go unanswered, Gaines responded sharply, writing, “It’s always ‘we support women’s rights!’ until it’s a woman who wants the right to compete and undress free from less than mediocre men. Keep your mentally ill men out of our sports, locker rooms, prisons, etc.”

She followed it up with another post: “It’s always hilarious when they think they’ve landed a ‘gotcha’ by pointing out I was the 5th-fastest woman in the nation yet they conveniently forget the mediocre man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division lol. Misogynistic dunce.”

Before transitioning, Lia Thomas ranked 462nd among male collegiate swimmers — a statistic Gaines often cites to argue that transgender inclusion in women’s competitions undermines fairness.

Lawsuit against NCAA moves forward

The online spat comes just weeks after Gaines scored a legal victory. A federal judge in Atlanta ruled that the Title IX lawsuit she and 19 other female athletes filed against the NCAA could move forward. 

The lawsuit challenges the NCAA’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports, referencing the 2022 Championships where Thomas used the women’s locker room, showers, and restrooms.

“[Thomas] was fully naked and, of course, fully intact inches away from where we, 18-, 19-, 20-year-old girls, were undressed,” Gaines previously told Fox News.

Although claims against Georgia Tech and state officials were dismissed, the NCAA remains a defendant. The case now focuses on whether the association received federal funding, which could make it liable under Title IX.

Riley Gaines doubles down on women’s rights in sports

Gaines has since become a national voice in the debate over fairness in women’s athletics. She frequently appears on conservative platforms and speaks at events calling for stricter policies to protect biological women in sports.