The Olympic skier at the heart of a “misgendering” incident hasn’t explicitly said that she’s offended. Still, some news outlets have offered sincere apologies.
“We apologize to Ellis and the viewers,” one outlet stated.
Swedish skier Ellis Lundholm competed in women’s freestyle skiing moguls recently and identifies as male.
According to the Associated Press, Lundholm was designated female at birth but identifies as male. However, the Swedish ski team confirmed that the athlete has not undergone any hormone therapy or surgery.
Following Lundholm’s 25th place finish, it was reported that NBC misgendered her, leading to widespread media attention. The website “Out Sports” shared the comments made by NBC/Peacock commentators during the broadcast, highlighting the uproar.
“But we went off course here… Oh, she just slid out of that gate. She’s going to jump around and go around to make sure she doesn’t DNF as she continues down the line here,” a commentator said.
NBC issued apologies to several stations this week, affirming, “NBC Sports is taking this matter seriously.” The network went so far as to pull additional replays where Lundholm might have been misidentified as a woman.
“We streamed an international feed by a non-NBCUniversal commentator who misgendered Olympian Ellis Lundholm,” a spokesperson admitted. “We apologize to Ellis and our viewers and have removed the replay of that feed.”
Lundholm, now 23, has garnered attention not just for her competition but for helping to organize the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics.
According to the publication Them, she is “the first transgender athlete to openly compete in a Winter Olympics.” They also noted that, based on trans-athlete rules, Lundholm is eligible to compete in any sport.
In an interview with a Swedish outlet, Lundholm addressed the criticism she might face during the Olympics. Translated comments suggested, “Of course, that’s what I thought. I can hear the voices of the world, but I’ll do what I have to do.”
Lundholm is set to compete again in the women’s dual moguls event on February 14th at 4:30 a.m. ET.
