Why Olympian Raven Saunders Throws Shot Put in a Distinctive, Full-Face Mask

You’ve probably heard of famous celeb alter egos like Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce, Eminem’s Slim Shady, and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, but what about the Hulk? We don’t mean Marvel’s Bruce Banner—we’re talking about Olympian shot putter Raven Saunders, whose transformation was on full display at the qualifiers in Paris on August 8.

Saunders, a 28-year-old who previously competed at the Rio Games in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, likes to channel the Hulk when they do their thing—aka hurl heavy objects long distances. Unlike Bruce Banner’s, Saunders’s metamorphosis often involves a mask, sunglasses, gold grills, and an elaborate manicure, as Associated Press sports writer Patrick Graham reported Thursday. (Per Saunders’s Insta story, they’re currently rocking blinged-out nails that spell out “H-U-L-K.”)

During the qualification round at the Paris Games on the morning of August 8, the audience at the Stade de France in Paris was able to catch a glimpse. Wearing orange-tinted sunnies and a black balaclava-style garment that covered their entire face, the green- and purple-haired Saunders threw the 8.8-pound shot put 18.62 meters on their third attempt—a mark good enough to earn them a spot at Friday’s final. Besides the sunglasses and mask, they had also accessorized with gold grills.

“I’m in full form,” Saunders said of their outfit, according to The Guardian. “I had to remind the people, I am who I am.”

Elaborating, Sauders later said the look was a way to inspire athletes to tap into their own self-expression and “really push their own styles,” CNN reported.

As shot putters, “we can do things as big and bright as any sprinter, any jumper, whoever,” Saunders said, according to CNN. “So we deserve that spotlight as well.”

But the Hulk look has a deeper meaning too—it plays an important role in helping them manage the pressures that come with being an elite athlete. Who they are is different on the field of play than off, as Saunders told Olympics.com in 2022. Fresh off their silver-medal win at the Tokyo Games, they said they developed the Hulk alter ego after therapy helped them realize that they were more than their athletic abilities.

“Early on, similar to the Hulk, I had a tough time differentiating between the two; I had a tough time controlling when the Hulk came out or when the Hulk didn’t come out,” they told Yahoo Sports in 2021. “But through my journey, especially dealing with mental health and things like that, I learned how to compartmentalize, 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. But when the Hulk came out, the Hulk was smashing everything that needed to be smashed.”