WASHINGTON, D.C. — South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace has built her MAGA brand on attention-grabbing outrage. But this time, her target—a living legend in gymnastics—flipped the script and left Mace flat on the mat.
Mace, already known for her inflammatory rhetoric and hard-right stance on trans issues, aimed her latest attack squarely at Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in world history. In a now-viral post on X (formerly Twitter), Mace sneered:
“Honey, if biological men competed in women’s gymnastics, odds are no one would know your name.”
The internet didn’t just clap back. It somersaulted.
Within hours, elite male gymnasts, Olympic medalists, sports journalists, and Biles supporters united in a rare bipartisan show of disgust. Two-time NCAA All-American gymnast Samuel Phillips broke it down clearly:
“These are two entirely different sports. Women’s gymnastics isn’t just a gender-swapped version of men’s. They have different events, different skill demands. Mace clearly has no clue what she’s talking about.”
Indeed, male and female gymnasts train and compete on different apparatuses. While men tackle the pommel horse, high bar, and rings, women dominate the balance beam and uneven bars—events that require an entirely different set of skills, including unparalleled precision, poise, and flexibility.
Biles, who has 41 combined Olympic and World Championship medals, has repeatedly performed gravity-defying feats that no male gymnast has ever even attempted in women’s events. One of her signature moves—the Yurchenko double pike—is so dangerous, it’s almost banned for safety reasons. And Biles nails it like it’s a walk in the park.
In a pointed response, fellow gymnast Ian Gunther, a four-time NCAA champion, reposted old footage of himself and other men trying—and hilariously failing—to replicate women’s routines. “The idea that men could dominate women’s gymnastics is not just offensive, it’s laughably uninformed,” he added.
UK Olympic medalist Nile Wilson also chimed in with his own viral video series attempting Biles’ routines. Spoiler: he didn’t come close.
Meanwhile, Mace’s credibility took another hit. In May, former staffers accused her of forcing interns to operate fake social media accounts to hype her up online. Critics now say her anti-trans and anti-women tirades are nothing more than cynical ploys to court MAGA donors and Fox News airtime.
But this time, she picked the wrong fight.
Simone Biles has spoken out in the past about the toll of public pressure, mental health, and standing up for herself and others—especially women and girls of color in elite sports. Her fans, and much of the internet, were quick to point out that Biles didn’t need defending—her record did the talking.
One viral comment summed it up:
“Imagine attacking Simone Biles—a woman who’s done more flips in a week than Nancy Mace has done her entire career.”
Even Biles, known for her composure, let her social media do the work. With a quiet like and a retweet of her own medal count, she reminded the world: the scoreboard doesn’t lie.
As the dust settled, one thing was clear: Nancy Mace tried to score political points by dragging down a national treasure—and instead got bodied by facts, athletic legends, and public opinion.
Somewhere in America, Simone Biles is still soaring.
And Nancy Mace? She’s still flailing.