Democratic leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stirred fresh row after mocking former swimmer Riley Gaines for her fifth-place finish at the 2022 NCAA championships.The exchange began when Gaines slammed the Democratic Party, claiming that it is swaying too much to the far left.The swimmer shared a photo of AOC at a rally alongside veteran senator Bernie Sanders in support of the socialist New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. “We’re being destroyed from within,” Gaines posted as a caption on X. Instead of responding to Gaines’s political comment, AOC aimed for her athletic record. “Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth,” she replied on X. Women’s rights supporters and MAGA conservatives went ham in the comment section after the repost. In the 2022 NCAA swimming championships, Gaines had tied with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard freestyle. Gaines hit back by accusing AOC of hypocrisy on women’s issues. “It’s always ‘we support women’s rights!’ until it’s a woman who wants the right to compete & undress free from less than mediocre men,” she said. “Keep your mentally ill men out of our sports, locker rooms, prisons, etc.”She also defended her swimming record, saying it was “always hilarious” that critics mocked her ranking without acknowledging the broader context. “It’s always hilarious when they think they’ve landed a ‘gotcha’ by pointing out I was the 5th-fastest woman in the nation yet they conveniently forget the mediocre man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division lol,” Gaines said, later adding, “Misogynistic dunce.”Backing her up, Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama praised Gaines’s achievements and criticised AOC’s stance. “What happened to ‘support all women’ @AOC?” he posted on X. “@Riley_Gaines_ is a 5x SEC Champion and 12x NCAA All-American. Not to mention she’s a patriot who has fought every day for women and girls.” He added, “Meanwhile, AOC thinks ‘women’s rights’ just means abortion.”Earlier this year, AOC voted against H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which seeks to restrict biological males from competing in female sports. The bill passed the House but remains pending in the Senate.Meanwhile, Mamdani, the candidate AOC was campaigning for, currently leads in the New York mayoral race against former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
