PARIS OLYMPICS: Raven Saunders in shot put final as BBC commentator Steve Backley struggles with right pronoun

The Olympic shot put competition veered towards a gender controversy of its own in Paris on Thursday with non-binary USA athlete Raven Saunders qualifying for the final.

Saunders, back competing after an 18-month ban for missing three doping tests, first caused a stir by adopting the alter-ego of “The Hulk” - before taking the character to a new level.

They wore a mask, their hair was dyed neon green and purple, gold grills covered their teeth and long fingernails on their left hand were bedazzled in Team USA colours, with the letters H-U-L-K.

But as BBC commentator Steve Backley introduced Saunders, he mistakenly referred to the athlete as female and was corrected by his co-commentator Jazmin Sawyers.

“The colourful character of Raven Saunders back. Good to see her back, sort of. Sort of see her, I mean ... Should that be allowed?” Backley said, referencing Saunders’ mask, before Sawyers responded.

“Why not?”, and reminded Backley that Saunders was non-binary and used the pronouns “they and them” rather than “she and “her”.

“Well we can’t actually see them very well. Raven Saunders is actually non-binary and wearing a mask there - we are quite used to seeing them with interesting attire,” Backley said around images of a masked Saunders getting ready to compete.

But gender-diversity critic James Esses described the BBC exchange as “more gender madness” at the Olympics, posting on X: “The host introduces Raven Saunders, saying, ‘It’s good to see her back’. He is promptly corrected by his co-host, saying, ‘They are actually nonbinary’. If they’re not a woman, why are they in the women’s competition?”

Others praised Ms Sawyers, 30, for correcting Backley, who has won two silver Olympic medals in javelin.

The shot-putter got used to wearing masks during COVID and carried on because it helped them focus and avoid being distracted by other competitors.

They won silver in Tokyo but then missed the 2023 world championships after being suspended for 18 months over three “whereabouts failures” – missing drug tests – in a 12-month period.

The athlete, who plays piano to relax, has said they use the huge green comic book character of the Hulk to channel their power when competing.

“That’s when Hulk comes out,” they added. “The Hulk was smashing everything that needed to be smashed.”

A BBC source said Backley’s comments were “unintentional”, adding: “Jazmin Sawyers immediately clarifies that Raven Saunders is non-binary for audiences”.