Stephen A Smith wades into Simone Biles-Riley Gaines feud, admits trans women have 'unfair advantage'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Stephen A Smith has waded into the simmering feud between swimming star-turned-activist Riley Gaines and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.

While the ESPN firebrand didn’t fully co-sign everything Gaines said, he wasn’t about to let her get dragged without some backup.

It all began when Biles clapped back at Gaines for criticizing a Minnesota girls’ softball league that posted a championship photo featuring a transgender player — and then turned off the comments. Gaines went on to reference disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar in her argument about keeping biological males out of women’s spaces.

Smith wasn't a fan of the Nassar reference, but he understood Gaines' original premise, Fox News reported.

“With that being said, the points you made to Simone Biles outside of the Larry Nassar comment, that should give us all cause for pause,” Smith said on 'The Stephen A Smith Show'.

“The reality is that it is a disservice to women in a lot of people’s eyes, that men transitioning to women get to compete in women’s sports. Lia Thomas was a perfect example. Her highest ranking at the time … highest ranking as a male participant was like 554th in the world. He transitioned into being a woman and was top 10. That speaks for itself.”

Stephen A Smith breaks down Riley Gaines and Simone Biles feud

Smith said a lot of women feel like Gaines. He pointed out the long-standing push for fairness under Title IX, and how letting transgender athletes compete in women’s categories feels like a curveball to many.

“And the reality is there’s an abundance of women out there who have a right to feel the way Riley Gaines feels, Simone Biles,” he added.

“Now, whether it’s right for me or someone else to say it is a different argument. But in the age that we’re living in with Title IX in existence, with us being protective of fairness and equal rights and equal opportunity to women — to then piggyback off of that and following up on that years later to allow transgender athletes transitioning from male to female to compete against women doesn’t appear to be fair.”

For Smith, it's all about the actual playing field — and whether it’s still level.

“When we lean on this argument about fear, fear – wait a minute. Somebody’s not talking about your civil liberties, somebody’s not talking about equality, somebody’s not talking about those things allowing you to live and let live,” he said.

“They’re talking about competition in sports. And if you allow somebody to compete in swimming, it’s not gonna stop you from competing in boxing. It’s not gonna allow you to stop you from competing in other sports.”

To drive his point home, Smith threw it back to a famous sports "what if" — when people floated the idea of Ronda Rousey taking on Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“We know that in most instances, even though there are women that could beat some men out there, by and large, the elite women don’t deserve to be competing against the elite men,” he said.

“By deserve … I’m talking about based on their gender. You shouldn’t be competing against men. I don’t want to see a Clarissa Shields in a boxing ring against Terence Crawford.”

Smith stressed the importance of biological differences in elite sports.

“So when we’re talking about it from that premise — it’s one thing for ladies to look at someone like me and say, ‘Who are you?’ It’s another thing entirely for ladies to be looking at ladies, acting like ladies don’t have the right to feel like there’s a disadvantage for them if they’re going up against a male transitioning to female," he added.

Stephen A Smith floats a trans-only league

Smith suggested a separate league or category for transgender athletes, saying he hopes more trans athletes come forward to make the system more balanced.

“If you ask me my preference? I hope a whole bunch of men transitioning to women come out of the woodwork. So we can have men going up against men, women going up against women and transgenders going up against transgenders. That’s fair,” he insisted.

He did point out that World Aquatics had tried something similar in 2022 — creating an open category — but no one signed up. Still, that didn’t stop him from defending Gaines’ right to call things out.

“But what Riley Gaines is talking about does seem a bit unfair. She has a right to express those thoughts without Simone Biles coming at her that way. Just because she lost? She’s talking about an unfair advantage," he explained.

Smith shut the door on any claims that there isn’t an advantage. “And there’s no one that could really dispute – if you are a male transitioning to female, that there’s an unfair advantage. I don’t see women transitioning to men trying to compete in men’s sports. If it’s happened, and I missed it, I apologize. But I missed it, I haven't seen that," he noted.

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