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ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith largely agreed with Riley Gaines in a feud between former NCAA national swimmers with Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles.
Smith’s remarks on Monday came days after Biles began Personal attack At Gaines after the former Kentucky Wildcats star criticized Minnesota’s softball league for turning off a photo comment showing the state’s championship team where transgender players were on its roster.
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Stephen A. Smith on the ESPN “NBA Countdown” live set at Intuit Dome on October 23, 2024. (Kirby Lee-Imagn image)
Gaines further promoted her point of men being in women’s spaces, using Larry Nasser, a former doctor who sexually assaulted several Olympic gymnasts. Smith used Nasser to disagree with Gaines, but he agreed to the original premise.
“That being said, the point you went to Simone Biles outside of Larry Nasser’s comments should give us all the causes of the pause,” he said in “The Stephen A. Smith Show.” “The reality is that men who harm women with many people’s eyes and transition to women can compete in female sports. Leah Thomas was the perfect example. Her best ranking at the time was the best ranking for male participants. She was ranked 554th in the world.
“And the reality is that there are plenty of women who have the right to feel the way Riley Gaines feels. Now it’s Simone Biles. Is it right now that I or someone else is right to say that it’s another argument? Women don’t seem fair.”
Smith dismissed the notion that debate about transgender athletes in women’s and women’s sports is more than competition on the field.
Simone Biles, right, Riley Gaines. (image)
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“When you rely on this discussion of fear, fear – wait a moment. Someone isn’t talking about your civil liberties. Someone isn’t talking about equality. Someone is not talking about allowing you to live and live,” he said. “They’re talking about competition in sports, and if someone allows you to compete in swimming, they’re not going to stop you from competing in boxing. That’s not going to allow you to stop you from competing in other sports.”
Smith raised a speech about Ronda Rousey fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. when both athletes were talking about the world of sports. He said sports fans know what will happen in the fight after Rousey is defeated by Amanda Nunes, but it should have been in the hearts of the fans in the first place.
“We mostly have women who can be there where elite women are not worthy of competing with elite men,” he said. “Appropriately… I’m talking based on their gender. You shouldn’t compete with men. I don’t want to see Clarissa’s shield in the boxing ring against Terrence Crawford.
“So, when we’re talking about it from that premise, it’s one thing for a woman who sees someone like me and says, ‘Who are you?’ It’s a whole different thing for women to see women, and behaving like women is not entitled to feel that men are at a disadvantage when they are transitioning to women. ”
Smith went on to say that he wanted more men to move towards women, so that the sports league has a transgender category to make it fair. but, World Aquatics I tried to create an open category in 2022, but I wasn’t interested in the competition.
“If you ask me what I like, I hope a bunch of men who transition to women will come out of woodworking. So we can get a match against men, women who play against women, transgender people, that’s fair,” he said. “However, what Riley Gaines is talking about seems a little unfair. She has the right to express those ideas without Simone Biles coming to her.
American Simone Biles is waiting for her score. (Marcus Brandt/Picture Alliance by Getty Images)
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“And no one can really challenge them, if you are transitioning to women with unfair benefits to women, then you are not seeing men moving towards men trying to compete in male sports.
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