NBC was forced to issue an apology after accidentally referring to Swedish athlete Elis Lundholm with the wrong pronouns during its coverage of the Winter Olympics.
The 23-year-old skier, who was born as a woman but identifies as male, was competing in the moguls even in the women’s freestyle division in Milan-Cortina.
During Lundholm’s run, the Olympic international feed, which was broadcast on NBC’s streaming platform Peacock, referred to the athlete as ‘she’ multiple times.
‘Getting off course here though…oh she just skids out of that gate,’ the commentary of Lundholm’s run said. ‘She’s going to hop up and go around to make sure she does not DNF as she continues down the line here.’
NBC quickly removed the footage from the platforms and its social media channels, apologizing for the error.
‘NBC Sports takes this matter seriously,’ NBC said, via Outsports. ‘Today we streamed an international feed with non-NBCUniversal commentators who misgendered Olympian Elis Lundholm. We apologize to Elis and our viewers, and we have removed the replay of that feed.’
NBC was forced to issue an apology after misgendering Swedish athlete Elis Lundholm
The skier, who was born as a woman but identifies as male, was competing in the moguls
Lundholm’s participation is allowed under the current International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines, making him the only openly trans athlete competing at this year’s Games.
But after making a mistake on the snowy slopes of Livigno, Lundholm finished 29th with a score of just 12.05 on Tuesday.
However, the trans Swede still had the chance to qualify for the final round again on Wednesday morning due to the nuances of the qualification moguls.
While the top 10 scored athletes on Tuesday receive an automatic bye, the remaining skiers will take part in a second round the following morning. Those who made the top 10 will then join the existing finalists, with the chance of winning a medal on Wednesday afternoon.
But it wasn’t to be for Lundholm, who finished 25th overall following the second qualification round and missed out on the chance of competing for a medal.
Lundholm has previously spoken out about his comfort at competing in female-only divisions.
‘I’ve always been treated well,’ he told Swedish TV channel SVT previously.
‘I came out and identified as a man. But I compete against women because they have the same qualifications as me. And that’s okay with everyone.’
The Swede, a transgender man, is the first trans competitor at the Winter Olympics
His participation for the women’s team is in line with the IOC’s 2021 ‘Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations’.
Those guidelines allow trans athletes to compete in the Olympics after being cleared by their own national sports federations.
Before he took to the slopes, Lundholm also addressed criticism surrounding his participation.
‘Of course it’s something I thought about,’ he said. ‘You can hear the voices out there. But then I do my thing, and I don’t give a damn.’
