Riley Gaines’s Fortune: How Much Is Riley Gaines’ Net Worth and Salary?

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Riley Gaines is an outstanding athlete who has an impressive career and earns a sizable net worth and salary.

Riley Gaines is a female competitive swimmer on the University of Kentucky team. Gaines believes the integrity of single-sex sports should be protected. Because of this, she recently spoke out after tying with Lia Thomas, a biological male, at the NCAA Championships.

On Thursday, April 6, 2023, former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines said she was assaulted on the campus of San Francisco State University. Gaines was at the school to speak about her views opposing the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports, according to the event announcement. “I was physically assaulted by one person” (why don’t you read more about her attack here?).

In the wake of her attack gaining traction and garnering mixed reactions on Twitter, many are curious to know more about her financial life. Like, is swimming really paying off for her? How much is Gaines worth now? Here’s everything we know about her fortune.

Riley Gaines
Source: GETTY IMAGES

What is Riley Gaines’s net worth?

Gaines’ love of swimming started, like most young women at this level of their careers, when she was just a toddler. But by age 12, she had started to “separate from the kids in her age group” in races.

“I would have parents come up to me to congratulate me because I was breaking pool times,” she said. “It progressed from there. In high school, swimming became my passion.”

Fast forward four years, and Gaines accepted a spot on the Kentucky Women’s Swim Team. She chose UKY for the swimming culture, positive coaches, and amazing team. It didn’t hurt that it was only three hours away from home.

Gaines has grown to become a successful swimmer who has achieved many accolades during her college career, including being named to the SEC All-Freshman Team and earning All-American honors.

College athletes do not really get paid in cash but in kind, because they are mostly considered amateurs. They receive scholarships that cover the cost of tuition, room, board, and other expenses related to their education.

In July 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) approved new rules that would allow college athletes to profit from their NIL, and several states have passed legislation allowing college athletes to earn compensation. So, there is a growing movement to allow college athletes to earn compensation for their image rights and to profit from their name, image, and likeness

However, some online outlets peg Riley Gaines’s current net worth between $300,000 to $1 million. Exact earnings can not be calculated as she is famous and has various sources of Income to account to this figure.

Source: GETTY IMAGES

Riley Gaines launched an attack against both Lia Thomas and ESPN

Riley Gaines remembers the moment at the 2022 NCAA Swim Championships when she watched Lia Thomas race for the first time. It was the 500-yard freestyle.

“I remember watching it, and [Lia] destroyed everyone,” Gaines said. “I was standing right next to the girl who placed 17th, which means she didn’t make it to the final or get to be All-American, when Lia touched the wall. She just looked at me and had tears in her eyes and she told me, ‘I just got beat by someone who probably didn’t have to try this morning.’”

Thomas, who swam for three years on the University of Pennsylvania Men’s Swim Team as Will Thomas before switching to the Women’s Team as Lia last fall, has made waves in and out of the pool for breaking records and for the devastation to female athletes left in Thomas’s wake.

Gaines, who swims for the University of Kentucky, describes that day as heartbreaking and somber. She later would race Lia in the 200-yard freestyle, tying for 5th place.

She’s all about fairness in Women’s Sports

In November 2021, Gaines was reading an article on Swim Swam that mentioned a female swimmer who went 1:41 in the 200y freestyle. That time was so fast, it was considered a national time. The name of the swimmer: Lia Thomas. It was a name that Gaines didn’t recognize.

“Being a top swimmer on the collegiate league, you recognize the tip-top and know who they are. I clicked on the article and was like, Lia Thomas — I have never heard of her. The article at the time didn’t mention being a transgender.”

After more digging, Gaines and her coach realized the truth. “At this point I was like, ‘What, there’s no way this can be a nation-leading time if she’s not a biological female.’ I was worried about if she would be allowed to swim at the NCAA’s.”

The NCAA avoided making a firm decision about Thomas’s eligibility until three weeks before the start of the Championships. It was an agonizing wait-and-see game for Gaines and her teammates. And then, the NCAA released a statement: Thomas would be allowed to compete.

The decision didn’t sit well with Gaines. She feels it was made out of a fear of backlash.

“I don’t see how people don’t see the blatant issue with it,” she said. “It has nothing to do with being transphobic. There’s no doubt [that Lia has] worked hard and sacrificed. You can’t do this sport and not do those things. But it’s just amazing to me that it got to this point. People are not fully grasping the severity of it.”

Gaines believes that allowing male-bodied athletes to participate in women’s competitions will destroy the integrity of women’s sports and leave women vulnerable.

“Seeing a biological male win a national title in a female sport, that’s an opportunity that so many people could take advantage of unless action is taken, and things can be implemented to prevent that from happening.”

Gaines is an outspoken athlete who enjoys Speaking Up and Speaking Out

Unlike many of the female swimmers in the SEC and Ivy League, Gaines has the full support of her school to speak out.

“I’m really grateful for the support from the University and [for] allowing me to speak out,” she said. “My team and my coaches have both been so supportive. Not once have they told me that I couldn’t speak.”

Gaines says she has no personal animosity toward Lia or any transgender individual. Her objection is to the actions of the athletic governing bodies.

You need to protect the integrity of sports, whether it be male or female. Females have worked way too hard for the past 50 years. What occurred the past month is a total step in the wrong direction.”