American Swimmer Riley Gaines Appreciated The Jiu-Jitsu Women Athletes To Stand For Their Right
Riley Gaines is again in the news. An exclusive article on female martial artists who declined to compete in a jiu-jitsu event after men began to dominate the women’s division was published by Reduxx on Friday. The North American Grappling Association (NAGA) revised its rules less than a day after the story was published due to the strong outcry caused by the news.
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The embargo was successful. Going forward, only women are permitted to compete in female events at matches sponsored by NAGA.
Riley Gaines talked about the enormous win for women’s athletics with Charly Arnolt on OutKick the Morning Monday.
“It’s huge. That is what we have needed to see,” Gaines said. “We have needed to see girls [fight] back and look what happens when you do. It took 21 hours — just 21 hours — for NAGA to change their policies and protect women’s sports, prioritize fairness over inclusion.”
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The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) and Reduxx were both commended by Gaines for drawing attention to the problem.
“Let’s be real: I don’t think a lot of people would know about this had someone not drawn attention to it because it’s jiu-jitsu,” Riley said. “It’s not a probably a high revenue, sport or anything like that. So a lot of people wouldn’t have known about this.”
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However, in jiu-jitsu, a modest stride is worth a huge leap for women.
“Those girls who boycotted did so so effectively that they protected not just themselves, but generations of women to come,” Gaines said. “I just think that’s how powerful it is.”
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Riley Gains hopes that by seeing these athletes’ boldness, women in various sports may be motivated to speak up for themselves as well.
“When the gun goes off, you don’t jump off the block,” she said. “That’s how you say enough is enough and really communicate the message that we’re not putting up with it.”
