Elis Lundholm of Team Sweden competes in the Women’s Moguls Qualification 2 on day five of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Livigno, Italy on Feb. 11, 2026. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
By Michael Austin February 15, 2026 at 10:31am
NBC News issued an apology after calling a female Olympic skiing competitor by her actual pronouns.
Elis Lundholm, who competed in women’s moguls during the Winter Olympics, is indeed a female, but she claims male identity and uses male pronouns.
The Swedish athlete also wears baggy clothing and has a masculine haircut.
Elis Lundholm is making history as the first openly transgender skier to compete in the Winter Olympics, representing Sweden on the world stage #NOH8 pic.twitter.com/EtpYSmfSsN
— NOH8 Campaign (@NOH8Campaign) February 9, 2026
Lundholm does not use testosterone and has not undergone transition surgeries, according to a report from Outkick.
The outlet added that NBC called her a “she” — but was unavailable to produce the footage of the commentary because NBC had taken it down.
Instead, NBC issued an apology.
“NBC Sports takes this matter seriously,” an NBC representative told Outkick.
“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.”
Some who identify as LGBT were not pleased with the purported misstep.
OutSports complained that “NBC Sports commentators misgendered the first out trans athlete at the Winter Olympics, skier Elis Lundholm.”
“How did this happen?” they lamented.
According to the outlet, “she” was used several times in reference to Lundholm.
“Getting off course here though… oh she just skids out of that gate. She’s going to hop up and go around to make sure she does not DNF as she continues down the line here,” the article recorded the broadcast as saying.
OutSports said that “it was not surprising, and somewhat understandable” that the rules requiring Lundholm to compete against fellow females were not mentioned by NBC.
“NBC perhaps didn’t want to deal with controversy that could arise while they are televising this games and trying to make viewers hungry for Los Angeles in two years,” OutSports said.
They instead insisted that using “he” and “him” pronouns for Lundholm “is about common respect and Journalism 101.”
“There is no excuse for a major media broadcaster of these Games to fail so miserably,” the outlet scoffed.
Michael wrote for several entertainment news outlets before joining The Western Journal in 2020. He now serves as Managing Editor, which involves managing the editorial team and operations; guiding the editorial direction of The Western Journal; and writing, editing, curating and assigning stories as needed.
Birthplace
Ames, Iowa
Nationality
American
Education
Iowa State University
Topics of Expertise
Cultural Politics, Entertainment News, Christian-Conservatism
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
