BBC commentator corrected live on air after misgendering shot putter Raven Saunders

Saunders goes by the pronoun ‘they’ and has previously invited comparisons with the Incredible Hulk

BBC commentator Steve Backley was corrected live on air by his co-commentator after misgendering an American shot put athlete who was wearing a full face mask.
Backley, the voice of the BBC’s athletics field coverage, was calling the qualification round of the women’s shot put on Thursday morning when America’s Raven Saunders was shown on the screen.
Saunders is non-binary and uses the plural pronoun ‘they’, but Backley accidentally misgendered the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist.
“The colourful character of Raven Saunders back,” said Backley, the former Olympic javelin medallist, before drawing attention to the full face mask and sunglasses that Saunders was wearing. “Good to see her back, sort of…sort of see her, I mean.”
Backley’s co-commentator Jazmin Sawyers, the British long jumper, quickly corrected him. “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 wearing interesting attire on their head. Why not?
Backley responded: “Why not indeed.”
BBC TV bosses are understood to have regarded Backley’s comment as “unintentional” and do not believe any action needs to be taken.
You might have thought after their experience at the Tokyo Olympics when they were obliged to don masks because of Covid restrictions, that every athlete at the Paris games would be delighted to be performing their sport without any such encumbrance. Not Saunders.
As anyone who saw the women’s shot put qualification round on Thursday morning at the Stade de France could not fail to notice, Saunders likes to compete in a face covering. Not necessarily a medical mask either, but instead one designed like the Incredible Hulk. Saunders was a rare performer in Japan who liked the idea of going round with a covered face and decided it would be a good idea to carry on competing in one.
Given that Saunders had long been known by the “Hulk” nickname thanks, in part, to a powerful 5ft 5in frame, the American thought it might be a smart idea to don one in homage to the Marvel character Incredible Hulk.
More to the point, after an adolescence in which temper was frequently an issue, Saunders has mentioned in interviews that Bruce Banner, the Hulk’s alter ego, has long been more than just a cultural hero, but a reference point.
“Early on, similar to Bruce, I had a tough time controlling when the Hulk came out or when the Hulk didn’t come out,” Saunders explained to Yahoo. “But through my journey, especially dealing with mental health and things like that, I learned how to compartmentalise, 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.”
However controlled Saunders is away from athletics, when the American puts on the mask and picks up the shot, however, it is a signal to unleash the inner Hulk.
“That’s when Hulk comes out,” Saunders said. “The Hulk was smashing everything that needed to be smashed.”
Let’s just hope for Saunders’s sake that, after qualifying for Friday night’s final with a throw of 18.62 metres, none of the other competitors decide to come out in a Thaddeus E “Thunderbolt” Ross mask, recalling the character who, in the Marvel comics, dedicated his life to bringing the Hulk down.