Riley Gaines, alongside OutKick founder Clay Travis, has been in a social media spat with Keith Olbermann. The former college swimmer addressed it during an interview with 93.1 WIBC’s Hammer and Nigel Thursday.
Earlier this week, Olbermann directed a post on X, formerly Twitter, to Gaines that said “Can you just address the reality and move past it? You sucked at swimming. That’s why you lost,” in regards to her rise in prominence for advocating for women’s sports after tying with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas — who went on to win a National Championship — in the NCAA Swimming Championships last year.
While appearing on the Indianapolis news/talk station, Gaines admitted she didn’t know who Olbermann was when the interaction first happened.
“You know what’s so funny? My dad played college football and he played in the NFL and different things. So when I told my dad I was like, ‘Dad, who is this old man?’, I had no idea who he was. Because he’s like ancient. He was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he was covering (sports) when I was playing’, so if that says anything. And my dad’s old,” Gaines said with a chuckle. “(The feud with Olbermann) is actually still ongoing. I just posted a video in response to him, which is the last of my attention he’ll get. It’s kind of comical and honestly the entertainment that I needed.”
After calling her a “nasty, stupid, unsuccessful transphobe”, Gaines countered the claims from Olbermann by showcasing the numerous trophies she won while competing at the University of Kentucky.
Riley Gaines has turned her advocacy for women’s sports into a career, now hosting the Gaines for Girls podcast for OutKick. She also recently appeared on the OutKick on Fox special that garnered nearly 1 million viewers.
