BBC commentator Steve Backley was corrected on-air for misgendering Team USA shot putter Raven Saunders during Thursday’s women’s shot put qualifying event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Saunders, 28, identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. They won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before facing an 18-month ban for failing to show up for three doping tests in a 12-month period. They have since served the suspension and returned to competition.
Backley, who was also a Team Great Britain javelin thrower, was commenting on Saunders’ comeback when he made the mistake.
The colorful character of Raven Saunders back,” Backley said, referring to their multicolored dyed hair. “Good to see her back, sort of. Sort of see her, I mean.”
Well we can’t see them very well. Raven Saunders is actually non-binary and wearing the mask there, we’re quite used to seeing them with interesting attire,” she said.
Saunders first began wearing a mask during the pandemic and opted to continue doing so as a way to block out distractions. They wore an Incredible Hulk mask during the games in Tokyo and have since described it as a way of channeling their Hulk alter-ego.
“Through my journey, especially dealing with mental health and things like that, I learned how to compartmentalize, the same way that Bruce Banner learned to control the Hulk, learned how to let the Hulk come out during the right moments, and that way it also gave him a sign of mental peace,” Saunders said in a 2021 interview with Yahoo Sports. “But when the Hulk came out, the Hulk was smashing everything that needed to be smashed.”