ss Riley Gaines has shattered expectations once again, becoming the first athlete ever to win Sports Illustrated’s Female Athlete of the Year three years in a row — and what’s sending the internet into a frenzy is that this year’s award isn’t for her performance in the pool, but for her role in what many are calling the “saving of women’s sports.”

In a landmark achievement that underscores her profound impact beyond the swimming pool, Riley Gaines has etched her name into sports history as the first individual to win Sports Illustrated’s Female Athlete of the Year award for three consecutive years.

Announced on December 1, 2025, this year’s honor—her third in a row since 2023—celebrates not her athletic prowess in the water, but her relentless crusade to safeguard the integrity of women’s sports.

What began as a personal grievance in 2022 has blossomed into a national movement, influencing policy, legislation, and public discourse on fairness, biology, and opportunity in athletics. As Sports Illustrated Editor in Chief Art Tubolls remarked in the award announcement, “If not for Ms.

Gaines, women’s sports would be dominated by men. We’re taking that very seriously.” These words encapsulate the gravity of Gaines’s work, which has mobilized millions and reshaped the conversation around gender and competition.

Riley Gaines’s journey from collegiate swimmer to conservative powerhouse is a testament to resilience and conviction. Born on April 21, 2000, in Nashville, Tennessee, Gaines grew up in a family that prized athleticism and achievement.

Her father, Brad Gaines, a former Vanderbilt quarterback, and her mother, Telisha, instilled in her a fierce competitive spirit. By age 12, Gaines was already a seven-time Tennessee state champion in swimming, sweeping the 100-yard butterfly for four straight years and claiming three titles in the 100-yard freestyle.

Her talent propelled her to qualify for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100-meter freestyle, where she competed as a Scholastic All-American. These early successes foreshadowed a stellar college career at the University of Kentucky, where she swam for the Wildcats from 2018 to 2022.

At UK, Gaines didn’t just compete; she dominated. She earned 12 NCAA All-American honors, a remarkable feat that placed her among the elite in women’s swimming. In 2019, as a freshman, she made the All-SEC Second Team and helped her relay team secure bronze at the SEC Championships.

By her junior year in 2021, she was a force: tying for fifth in the 200-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships while clinching silver in the 4×200-yard freestyle relay. Her senior season in 2022 was even more legendary.

Gaines shattered the SEC meet and conference records in the 200-yard butterfly with a blistering 1:51.51, earning gold at the SEC Championships. She also defended her 200-yard freestyle title with a time of 1:42.62, setting school records in three individual events.

That year, she was named the SEC Women’s Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the All-SEC First Team, and even received the Sullivan Award for humanitarian efforts from UK Athletics.

Off the pool deck, she balanced academics with community service, earning the SEC Brad Davis Community Service Award and being crowned Miss Wildcat at the 2022 CATSPY Awards.

Yet, for all her accolades—five SEC championships, 20 individual top-three finishes in dual meets, and rankings as high as No. 5 nationally in the 200-yard butterfly—Gaines’s defining moment came not in victory, but in what she perceived as injustice.

At the 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, she tied for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle with Lia Thomas, a transgender woman who had previously competed on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s team, where she ranked 462nd in the event.

Thomas, who had undergone hormone therapy to align with NCAA guidelines at the time, ultimately received the fifth-place trophy on the podium, while Gaines was offered a participation trophy weeks later. The incident left Gaines feeling “cheated, betrayed, and violated,” as she later described it.

“I trained my entire life for this,” she recounted in interviews. “To have it undermined by someone who had every male advantage was heartbreaking.”

This tie wasn’t just a personal slight; it ignited a firestorm. Gaines refused to accept the status quo, speaking out publicly for the first time at a Turning Point USA event at San Francisco State University in April 2023.

What should have been a routine speech devolved into chaos: protesters shouted her down, and Gaines alleged she was physically assaulted, requiring police escort to safety. Undeterred, she channeled her outrage into action.

In 2023, she launched the “Gaines for Girls” podcast on OutKick and Fox Nation, a weekly platform where she interviews policy experts, scientists, and fellow athletes on the threats to women’s sports.

That same year, she testified before state legislatures in Texas and Kansas, advocating for bills to restrict transgender women from competing in female categories.

Her efforts bore fruit quickly: Georgia and West Virginia passed the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” explicitly named after her, banning transgender girls from girls’ sports programs. By 2024, Gaines founded the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute, a hub for training activists and pushing legislation nationwide.

The momentum accelerated in 2025, a pivotal year marked by political shifts and personal milestones. Following Donald Trump’s reelection, Gaines stood beside him at the White House in February as he signed Executive Order 14201, tying federal funding to policies barring transgender girls from women’s sports. The U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services even featured her in promotional videos on their women’s health webpage, highlighting her role in the order.

In May, Sports Illustrated Women named her “Woman of the Year,” her second such honor (the first in 2023), recognizing her as “the voice in the conversation surrounding women’s sports.” This award, as detailed in SI’s announcement, praised her for “defending women’s single-sex spaces, advocating for equality and fairness.” Gaines’s influence extended to the courts: in May 2025, she joined a lawsuit filed by Female Athletes United against the NCAA, arguing that transgender inclusion violates Title IX protections for women.

Not all reactions were celebratory. Gaines’s activism, often blunt and unapologetic, drew sharp criticism. She has publicly targeted transgender athletes on social media, amassing 1.6 million followers on X (formerly Twitter), where her posts blend advocacy with pointed commentary.

In June 2025, this led to a high-profile clash with Simone Biles. After Gaines criticized a transgender gymnast’s participation in a women’s event, Biles fired back on X, calling her “truly sick” and a “straight up sore loser” for fixating on her 2022 tie with Thomas.

“Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male,” Biles wrote, urging Gaines to focus on inclusive categories rather than exclusion. Gaines responded by accusing Biles of body-shaming, while supporters like Piers Morgan and Martina Navratilova defended her, labeling Biles’s remarks as hypocritical.

Biles later apologized, acknowledging the need for better balance between equity and inclusion, but the exchange highlighted the polarized debate Gaines embodies.

On a personal note, 2025 brought joy amid the fray. In June, Gaines and her husband, Louis Barker—a fellow University of Kentucky swimmer she married in 2022—announced they were expecting their first child.

The couple, who met during their collegiate days, has kept much of their life private, but Gaines has occasionally shared glimpses of domestic bliss, crediting Barker for his unwavering support. “He’s my rock,” she said in a podcast episode.

This family milestone humanizes the activist often seen as a firebrand, reminding followers that her fight stems from a desire to protect future generations—including her own daughter.

Gaines’s third SI award in December 2025 cements her as a transformative figure. Unlike her previous wins, which nodded to her swimming legacy, this one spotlights her off-field heroism.

Tubolls’s quote resonates deeply in a year when surveys showed 71% of California parents—even in a blue state—backing Trump’s executive order on transgender athletes.

Gaines’s “Take Back Title IX” bus tour in 2024, her merchandise lines emblazoned with feminist icons, and her cameos in conservative media like Fox News have amplified her reach. She’s endorsed Republican candidates from Rand Paul to Kim Reynolds, and her Riley Gaines Center has trained over 500 activists.

Critics, including the National Women’s Law Center, argue her stance “dehumanizes trans people” and undermines Title IX’s inclusive spirit. Gaines counters that true feminism demands protecting biological women’s hard-won spaces: “Men wouldn’t put up with it if the roles were reversed.”

Looking ahead, Gaines vows to escalate her “war on women”—a phrase she repurposed from 2010s political rhetoric to describe what she sees as an erasure of female categories. With her baby due in early 2026, she plans to expand her podcast and push for federal Title IX reforms.

Her story, from Olympic hopeful to policy influencer, inspires young athletes worldwide. As one X user posted after the award: “Riley never asked for this fight, but she chose courage over silence. Grateful for role models like her keeping dudes out of women’s locker rooms and podiums.”

Riley Gaines isn’t just winning awards; she’s winning the future for women’s sports. In an era of rapid cultural change, her unyielding voice ensures fairness remains non-negotiable. Congratulations, Riley—on yet another impressive win, and on a legacy that will ripple through generations.