Right here’s Why Raven Saunders Competes With a Masks and Transforms Into ‘Hulk’ Persona

You’ve in all probability 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 once they do their factor—aka hurl heavy objects lengthy distances. In contrast to Bruce Banner’s, Saunders’s metamorphosis typically 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 presently rocking blinged-out nails that spell out “H-U-L-Okay.”)

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 in a position to catch a glimpse. Carrying orange-tinted sunnies and a black balaclava-style garment that lined their total 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 ultimate. In addition to the sun shades and masks, that they had additionally accessorized with gold grills.

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

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

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

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

“Early on, much like the Hulk, I had a troublesome time differentiating between the 2; I had a troublesome 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 means of my journey, particularly coping with psychological well being and issues like that, I discovered the best way to compartmentalize, the identical manner that Bruce Banner discovered to regulate the Hulk, discovered the best way to let the Hulk come out throughout the precise moments and that manner it additionally gave him an indication of psychological peace. However when the Hulk got here out, the Hulk was smashing every thing that wanted to be smashed.”