NBC Issues Apology and Deletes Footage After Misgendering Trans Olympic Athlete

NBC has apologized after Olympic commentators repeatedly misgendered Swedish transgender skier Elis Lundholm.

Lundholm, a trans man and the first trans athlete in the Winter Olympics, competed in the women’s moguls first qualifying round on Tuesday, February 10, as official rules currently require participants to enter events corresponding to their "registered s--."

During a live stream on NBC’s platform Peacock, one of the two commentators referred to the 23-year-old freestyle skier as "she" throughout his first run.

"Getting off course here though…oh she just skids out of that gate," the commentary said. "She's going to hop up and go around to make sure she does not DNF as she continues down the line here."

The network swiftly removed the footage from its Olympic replay lineup and issued an apology.

"NBC Sports takes this matter seriously," NBC said in a statement to LGBTQ+ sports website 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."

However, it can still be viewed directly through NBC’s website.

The Olympian reportedly previously told Swedish TV channel SVT, "I came out and identified as a man. But I compete against women because they have the same qualifications as me."

The Swedish ski team confirmed Lundholm has not undergone any gender-affirming treatment or surgery.

In another interview following his run, he responded to the criticism surrounding his participation in the female-only category.

"I haven’t really thought about it that much,” he said on Wednesday, February 11. "I’m here at the same conditions as everyone else, so yeah, I’m just skiing."

While Lundholm, who finished 25th in the women’s moguls qualifying, has received hate, fellow American skier Tess Johnson voiced her support.

"I think it’s great that Elis is competing as the, I think, first transgender Winter Olympian," she told reporters. "I think that’s awesome. We’re here to ski. We’re here to have fun, and that’s exactly what we do."

Regarding his performance, Lundholm said, "I’m happy to put down a run today. It wasn’t the best run. There are some things to fix, but I’m happy."

According to the Associated Press, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) soon plans to introduce a gene-testing policy for gender eligibility in women’s events, including Alpine and cross-country skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

"The eligibility conditions laid out in the policy are grounded on the presence or absence of the so-called SRY gene, the s---determining gene present on humans’ Y chromosome," FIS shared in a statement last fall.

"This policy is the cornerstone of our commitment to protect women’s sport," FIS president Johan Eliasch said. "We are convinced that there is only one fair and transparent way to do that: by relying on science and biological facts."