Riley Gaines Pays Prize Money After Woman Refused To Compete Against Trans Billiards Player In Tourney Final

As male transgender athletes continue to encroach further into women's sports, it's becoming even more important that female competitors refuse to take part. 

And that's exactly what's happening in a European pool tournament, with support from OutKick's Riley Gaines.

Kim O'Brien, a female athlete, recently forfeited her spot in the women's championship final rather than compete against a male billiards player, Harriet Haynes. Gaines, host of the Gaines for Girls podcast, posted about it on X, saying that she'll be paying the prize money that O'Brien lost out on as a result of refusing to compete against a transgender athlete. 

Gaines applauds O'Brien's decision and tells OutKick more about what motivated her to get involved.

"Last year, in this same European tournament, it was the exact same people in the finals, and he beat her 7-1," Gaines said. "I'd been following along since I heard about him last year. And actually at this tournament there were two males that were playing, meaning there were two men playing in the women's elite pro section where only 32 athletes are offered spots. It's the biggest achievement for any pool player to make it to this meet. Both males made it to the top 8. Another player, Lynn Pinches, gave up her spot because men were playing."

"I'd publicly stated before that we need to incentivize not participating in the farce, in the madness of it," she continued. "It's what I hear from athletes all the time, they don't want to lose sponsorship, they don't want to lose income. Their jobs and livelihoods depend on it." 

"I understand that threat; what do you do if you have a family? How can we incentivize people for not playing? And that's by awarding them what they would be awarded."

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 5: Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines testifies during a House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services hearing on Capitol Hill. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Riley Gaines Sticking Up For Women In Sports, Hoping Change Follows

Gaines also discussed how others have agreed to join in her efforts to compensate women brave enough to stop participating. Sage Steele, Megyn Kelly and Seth Dillon have stated they want to help those affected by male transgender athletes taking over their sports. 

The male athlete in this competition, Harriet Haynes, had talked last year about how dominant of a win it'd been from the very beginning. This year, Kim O'Brien decided that enough was enough. Gaines believes that if more women take this path, change will be inevitable.

"If you have women who aren't willing to compete, no one wants to watch a bunch of men competing in women's sports," she said. And in sports, money talks. If ratings decline and interest dries up with males winning female competitions, sporting organizations will be forced to rethink their rules and regulations. 

Gaines also said that she believes this is a "winning issue," that the "public is outraged," with polling consistently showing that huge majorities agree that "men should not be in women's sports." 

It's simply unconscionable to allow this type of unfair competitive advantage to continue. And more and more women are beginning to feel comfortable speaking, or more importantly, acting out against it. Kim O'Brien should be commended for her bravery, and Gaines should be commended for ensuring that more women can stand up for biological reality without fear of financial harm.

Hopefully, it's the start of many more similar examples to come in the near future.