Olympics Commentator Corrected On-Air for Misgendering Team USA Shot Putter Raven Saunders

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.”

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Jazmin Sawyers, Backley’s broadcast partner, corrected his mistake.

“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.”

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Saunders’ performance earned them a spot in the final on Friday. They scratched on their first throw before throwing 17.93 meters on their second and 18.62 on their third.

The two-time Olympian continues to be an advocate for LGBTQIA+ people and those with mental health struggles who do not have the same platform. Saunders, who is Black and gay, made waves in Tokyo when they formed an “X” with their wrists on the podium as they received their silver medal.

They later said the X represented “​​the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet.”

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The International Olympic Committee has banned athletes from using the podium to protest and investigated the gesture before concluding Saunders had not broken any rules.

Saunders, who has endured mental health struggles in the leadup to the Olympics, said they hope their ascension in the sport will inspire those who have gone through similar hardship.

“I honestly said that If I made this team, when I made this team, that it was for the people,” they said. “It was for the people that reminded me of who I was when I was down, when I was out, when I was suspended.”

Saunders will take center stage again in the final, and while it may be tough to imagine them coming up with a flashier look than what they donned on Thursday, Saunders promised, “I have something even better.”