"Women have a much bigger hill to climb than I thought" - Riley Gaines criticizes Dawn Staley's views on transgender issues 

Riley Gaines recently took a dig at Basketball coach and former player Dawn Staley for her views on transgender people.

Gaines has been a fervent advocate of women's safety in sports since the 2022 NCAA Swimming Championships and has consistently voiced her opinion against the notion of transgender athletes competing in women's sports.

After having a stellar career as a basketball player from 1996 to 2006, Staley stepped into the coaching role and is currently mentoring the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team. She served as a coach for the Temple Owls women's basketball team before starting her current job.

In an interview during the 2024 Women's Final Four, Staley was asked about transgender issues and she responded by saying that one should be able to play women's sports if they considered themselves a woman.

"I'm under the opinion of, if you are a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play."

Gaines was far from being in agreement with Staley's comments, saying that women had a "bigger hill to climb" than she thought.

"Considering yourself a woman' is now the threshold. Women have a much bigger hill to climb than I thought..."

She further criticized the basketball coach, highlighting the understanding of the difference between the men's and women's basketball, citing the speed of their games.

"Dawn Staley knows perfectly well that men's basketball is a totally different sport than women's basketball. That's obvious by the speed of the game, the size of the ball, the sheer amount of layups compared to dunks when a player gets a fast break."

"No one told me how hard it is" - Riley Gaines records her own audiobook

Riley Gaines authored a book "Swimming Against the Current."

Riley Gaines is all set to publish her book "Swimming Against the Current - Fighting for Common Sense in a World That's Lost its Mind."

Riley Gaines wrote the book to express her views after the 2022 NCAA Championships when she tied for fifth place in the 200y freestyle event with Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, but only the latter was presented with the trophy.

She recently stepped into a recording studio to audio document her book and shared the glimpse with her fans.

"No one told me how hard it is to record your own audio book lol," Gaines wrote. "Finished my third 6hr day of recording but SO excited!"

The book is scheduled to be released on May 21, 2024.