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Paris Olympics 2024: A BBC host was corrected live on air when he repeatedly used the wrong pronouns to mention American shot putter Raven Saunders at the Paris Olympics 2024.

The 28-year-old Saunders identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns “they/them.”

Saunders appeared in action in the qualifying round of the women’s shot put at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Thursday.

The Tokyo Games 2020 silver medalist came up wearing a mask obscuring their face, with hair dyed green and purple to match their Hulk alter-ego.

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As per reports, the BBC Olympics commentator Steve Backley repeatedly misgendered Saunders as “her” during the coverage of the women’s shot put qualifying round at the Stade de France, Paris

“The colourful character of Raven Saunders back. Good to see her back, sort of. Sort of see her, I mean,” Backley said, referring to Saunders’s mask which obscured most of their face.

Backley’s co-host Jazmin Sawyers was quick to correct him live on air for misgendering the American non-binary athlete.

“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,” Sawyers replied.

The video of the entire instance went viral on social media and sparked yet another debate on gender identity at the ongoing games.

A section of the internet questioned why a non-binary athlete was allowed to compete in a women’s sport.

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“More gender madness at the Olympics in the women’s shot put… If they’re not a woman, why are they in the women’s competition?” asked X user James Esses. His post has racked up a staggering 6.3 million views on X.

The incident came a few days after Algerian boxer Imane Khelif became the centre of the gender controversy following her bout against Italy's Angela Carini.

Talking about Saunders, after scratching on their first throw, they recorded 17.93 meters on their second and 18.62 on their final to ensure their spot in the final.