It's not even that; she got fifth place. She's upset that she had to share fifth place with a trans woman. I also feel the need to point out that it was her last competitive event, so it's not exactly like competitive swimming is a vital component of her life that she kept doing moving forward. She's just a vile, terrible person who realized she could make a career as a right-wing grifter.

She’s upset because she didn’t get 5th place.

It's worse than that: she did get 5^th^ place.

In March 2022, while swimming for the University of Kentucky in the 200-yard freestyle at the NCAA championship (her final competitive event race), Gaines tied for fifth place with University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who subsequently became the first openly trans woman champion in the NCAA women's division after winning the 500-yard freestyle later at the same meet. While Thomas held the fifth-place trophy after the finish, Gaines held an equally-sized sixth-place trophy while waiting for another fifth-place trophy in the mail.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Gaines

Whi h she genuinely lost, but it was close enough the judges had to check slow-motion, so she was wronged.