Olympic shot putter who wears full face mask 'almost quit' after 18 month ban for missing three drugs tests
Team USA has made headlines in the women's shot put event at the 2024 Paris Olympics not just for being on the verge of history but by doing so while looking really bloody cool.
Enter Raven Saunders, who turned heads on Thursday (8 August) during the qualification for the shot put final.
The reigning Olympic silver medallist from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, they're known for their ability to be one of the best in shot put.
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And now they are one step away from being the first American athlete to win more than one Olympic medal in the women's shot put event after making it to the final on Friday evening.
Saunders is also making people look twice during the Paris Games after taking to the field event wearing a full face mask, reflective orange sunglasses, and purple and green hair.
With a nickname of 'Hulk' - which makes the green and a purple a little more understandable - Saunders says the face mask is nothing to do with aesthetics.
Instead, it's all about Saunders being able to focus on the task at hand by blocking out the people around them and concentrating on their motivational thoughts.
Speaking to Yahoo Sport in 2021, they said: "I like to be my biggest supporter - I really can't repeat [what I say] because y'all are going to have to bleep out most of the things I say anyway. But pretty much to sum it up I'm telling myself - 'You got it, you got it, you're a champion, you have to push, you gotta push, nobody is going to give it to you, you have to work, you have to grind, you gotta get it'."
But for Saunders, the 2024 Paris Olympics almost never happened after they seriously thought about leaving the sport and giving up altogether.
This was after the 28-year-old was given an 18 month suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) following on from them missing three drugs tests.
A statement from Saunders said they 'accepted full responsibility for their failure to update their whereabouts according to the prescribed procedure on multiple occasions'. They said they would use the time suspended 'to focus on their mental health and intensify their training to prepare for the Paris Games'.
The athlete had revealed that pressures outside of athletics had taken their toll, following the death of their mother and taking on the legal responsibility for looking after their sibling.
Quitting was a realistic option at this stage. But Saunders said: "I have no other choice but to really show people you have to keep going, that you have to keep fighting. No matter how dark it gets, no matter how tough times get, there will be light at the end of that tunnel.
"Because, oh God, I was so close to quitting. But thank you to all the people that supported me, all the people that doubted me, all the people that wished me well, all the people that told me I could get back to this position."
They added: "For me, [quitting] would be like I’m failing not just myself, but so many others who believe in me, that use me as inspiration.
"So I have no other choice but to keep fighting, to keep pushing. Those dark days, I dragged myself out of bed, dragged myself to the weight room, tears in my eyes, begging when is this gonna be over, and just kept fighting every single day. It felt like months on end, and finally I had a breakthrough.
"That’s the power of resilience, and persistence, and trust, and faith."
Saunders returned to competing in the shot put after her ban ran out in February 2024, winning silver in the 2024 United States Olympic trials.
Saunders identifies as non-binary and uses the they / them pronouns.
Tom Earnshaw