Raven Saunders is back, and she is already causing a major stir for several reasons.
U.S. shot putter Raven Saunders was on the field Thursday and qualified for the Olympic final while rocking a full-faced black mask and gold-hued sunglasses.
Her hair was also dyed neon green on one side and purple on the other.
She also had gold grills covering her upper and lower teeth. She also added bedazzled long fingernails in Team USA colors and the letters H-U-L-K.
Her eccentric outfit was the first thing that went viral, but it wasn’t the only thing.
A BBC commentator had to correct her co-host after he accidentally misgendered Raven Saunders.
Team G.B. long jumper Jazmin Sawyers, who is commentating for the BBC, had to quickly rectify her colleague Steve Backley’s language after he accidentally referred to the shot putter with an incorrect pronoun.
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Referring to U.S. shot putter Raven Saunders, he said: “The colorful character of Raven Saunders [is] back. Good to see her back, sort of. Sort of see her, I mean,” he added as he was referring to her full face mask.
Sawyers would quickly jump in to state:
“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. Should that be allowed? Why not.”
“Why not indeed,” Backley replied.
Social media quickly took to the comments and quotes to respond to both the outfit and misgendering of Saunders:
Raven Saunders Has Previously Won A Medal At The Olympics
Raven Saunders qualified for the 2024 Olympics shot put final Thursday as she bids to add to her medal count.
Saunders competes in the shot put and discus throw and was the silver medalist in women’s shot put at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Before the Olympics, she won two NCAA collegiate shot put titles at Southern Illinois University and two NCAA shot put titles for the University of Mississippi, per Wikipedia.
