Non-binary Olympics star Raven Saunders pulls on their trademark mask for shot put final… a day after sparking controversy over participation in women’s event

Raven Saunders pulled on their trademark mask for the shot put final, a day after the non-binary member of Team USA sparked controversy over their participation in the women’s event.

Saunders finished 11th out of the dozen finalists in the shot put, more than two meters behind gold medalist Yemisi Ogunleye.  

Saunders was back competing after an 18-month ban for missing three doping tests. 

They first caused a stir by adopting the alter-ego of ‘The Hulk’ – before taking the character to a new level.

Appearing in the games today, 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 colors, with the letters H-U-L-K.

Saunders also donned their signature mask during the shot put final at the Olympics

Saunders won a silver medal in the shout put in Tokyo, with them falling well short of a repeat effort in Paris. 

The unique wardrobe chosen by Saunders is all her own doing, as they also don the necessary red, white, and blue track uniform. 

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

‘The colorful character of Raven Saunders back. Good to see her back, sort of. Sort of see her, I mean,’ Backley said, referencing Saunders’ mask, before Sawyers responded.

‘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.

The controversy surrounding Saunders is the latest chapter of what has been a major talking point across the Paris Games. 

Women’s boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting have faced the brunt of the scrutiny, with claims they both posses male XY chromosomes. Both Lin and Khelif are fighting for gold medals in the coming days.