Here’s Why Raven Saunders Competes With a Mask and Transforms Into ‘Hulk’ Persona

You’ve most likely heard of well-known celeb alter egos like Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce, Eminem’s Slim Shady, and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, however what concerning the Hulk? We don’t imply Marvel’s Bruce Banner—we’re speaking about Olympian shot putter Raven Saunders, whose transformation was on full show on the qualifiers in Paris on August 8.

Saunders, a 28-year-old who beforehand competed on the Rio Video games in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021, likes to channel the Hulk after they do their factor—aka hurl heavy objects lengthy distances. Not like Bruce Banner’s, Saunders’s metamorphosis usually includes a masks, sun shades, gold grills, and an elaborate manicure, as Related Press sports activities author Patrick Graham reported Thursday. (Per Saunders’s Insta story, they’re at present rocking blinged-out nails that spell out “H-U-L-Ok.”)

In the course of the qualification spherical on the Paris Video games on the morning of August 8, the viewers on the Stade de France in Paris was capable of catch a glimpse. Sporting orange-tinted sunnies and a black balaclava-style garment that coated their whole face, the green- and purple-haired Saunders threw the 8.8-pound shot put 18.62 meters on their third try—a mark adequate to earn them a spot at Friday’s last. Moreover the sun shades and masks, they’d additionally accessorized with gold grills.

“I’m in full type,” Saunders stated of their outfit, in line with The Guardian. “I needed to remind the folks, I’m who I’m.”

Elaborating, Sauders later stated the look was a technique to encourage athletes to faucet into their very own self-expression and “actually push their very own kinds,” CNN reported.

As shot putters, “we will do issues as massive and vivid as any sprinter, any jumper, whoever,” Saunders stated, in line with CNN. “So we deserve that highlight as nicely.”

However the Hulk look has a deeper that means too—it performs an vital function in serving to them handle the pressures that include being an elite athlete. Who they’re is completely different on the sphere of play than off, as Saunders informed Olympics.com in 2022. Recent off their silver-medal win on the Tokyo Video games, they stated they developed the Hulk alter ego after remedy helped them understand that they have been greater than their athletic talents.

“Early on, much like the Hulk, I had a tricky time differentiating between the 2; I had a tricky time controlling when the Hulk got here out or when the Hulk didn’t come out,” they informed Yahoo Sports activities in 2021. “However by my journey, particularly coping with psychological well being and issues like that, I realized methods to compartmentalize, the identical approach that Bruce Banner realized to regulate the Hulk, realized methods to let the Hulk come out throughout the fitting moments and that approach it additionally gave him an indication of psychological peace. However when the Hulk got here out, the Hulk was smashing every part that wanted to be smashed.”