Riley Gaines responded to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) during the latest episode of her OutKick podcast, “Gaines for Girls,” continuing their public dispute that recently unfolded on social media.
The feud began after Ocasio-Cortez remarked that if Gaines had “put all this anger into swimming faster,” she “wouldn’t have come in fifth place” at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships.
In her podcast, Gaines pointed out that she was among the small percentage of athletes who compete at the Division I level, noting, “There are only eight women who make the final and are All-Americans in their event.” She added that she tied with Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who had won the national title in the 400-meter freestyle the day before.
“If they think fifth place is bad, what in the world do they think about 462nd? Because that’s what Will Thomas placed among the men just 12 months prior,” Gaines said, using Thomas’s birth name.
She continued, “This comment is just so snide. It’s that same tired idea we keep hearing — that women aren’t allowed to be angry when we’re treated unfairly, and if we are, then something must be wrong with us. The idea that women lose to men in sports because we don’t try hard enough or because we’re lazy — it’s dismissive, condescending, and honestly, sexist. They’d only ever say that to a woman.”
“For the life of me, I cannot understand this line of attack,” Gaines added.
Gaines went on to say that the New York congresswoman seems “hellbent on being on the wrong side of every 80-20 issue.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s the border, crime, parental rights, or the men-in-women’s-sports issue,” Gaines said.
After Gaines challenged Ocasio-Cortez to a debate on The Ingraham Angle, the congresswoman fired back, suggesting Gaines should “get a real job.” Gaines replied that she already has one — being a mother to her new daughter.
“If AOC had a little girl, she would probably feel differently about a grown man exposing himself to her daughter. But on the other hand, she’s proven herself to be a self-absorbed, misogynistic socialist — so probably not,” Gaines concluded.
