American shot put star causes huge stir with 'disturbing' and 'bonkers' look at Paris Olympics
Raven Saunders garnered plenty of attention with their look
GETTY
Raven Saunders has caused a stir online for her bold look during the women's shot put qualification at the Paris Olympics.
The American athlete - who uses they/them pronouns - won silver at the Tokyo Olympics and enters Paris gunning for gold.
The shot put qualification got underway on Thursday morning with Saunders grabbing the attention of viewers with their outfit.
The 28-year-old was wearing a facemask and sunglasses while competing along with their hair sprayed purple and green.
Raven Saunders garnered plenty of attention with their look
GETTY
Saunders' look caused a stir online with many confused as to why they were wearing a mask and sunglasses.
One person wrote: "What the hell is going on."
Another message read: "That mask is quite disturbing."
A third posted: "Why are they covering there face when no other athlete is?"
One other viewer said: "Utterly bonkers!!"
Another simply asked: "Why the face mask?"
Saunders ended up qualifying for the final with a throw of 18.62, but they will need to improve to challenge for gold with Sarah Mitton setting the benchmark with a huge throw of 19.77.
They explained previously that their decision to wear a mask stemmed from the Tokyo Olympics when athletes were required to wear masks due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Saunders claimed that it helped her in competition to get in the zone and it fed into her 'Hulk' nickname.
Raven Saunders qualified for the final
REUTERS
"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," Saunders said.
"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.
"But when the Hulk came out, the Hulk was smashing everything that needed to be smashed."
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Raven Saunders only just returned from an 18-month suspension
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Saunders only returned to competition in February this year after being banned for 18 months for three missed doping tests.
The Olympic silver medallist missed the 2023 World Championships as a result of the ban, but was ultimately picked for the Paris Olympics.
They missed tests on January 8, May 26 and August 15 in 2022 and accepted the 18-month suspension for committing three whereabout failures.