Kara Goucher was recently hailed by Nikki Hiltz. PHOTO: Both from Getty Images — Kara Goucher was recently hailed by Nikki Hiltz. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

“Kara Goucher's kind of been trailblazer": Non-binary Olympian Nikki Hiltz hails commentator & former long-distance runner for using proper pronouns

Modified Sep 16, 2024 08:20 GMT

Middle-distance runner Nikki Hiltz recently lauded former long-distance runner Kara Goucher for the usage of proper pronouns during her commentary. Goucher has been a commentator for NBC's track and field broadcasting team since her debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021.

Hiltz represented the USA at the Paris Olympics where they competed in the women’s 1500m and placed seventh with a time of 3:56.38.

Following their Olympics campaign, Hiltz recently appeared at the ‘Exes and o’s with Shannon Beveridge’ podcast where they talked about how the commentary of many broadcasting teams has changed since they came out as non-binary in 2021, just three months before the US Olympic Track and Field trials for the Summer Games in Tokyo. They said:

“Yeah, so, it's been a while it’s been a minute but it's really cool to see. Kind of exactly how you said like the track and field community and announcers and broadcasters and in-stadium announcers and meet directors, kind of be like ‘Oh shoot we have to make space for this like Nikki's here, Nikki's like not only here but they keep winning.’”

However, Hiltz added that they respect people who believe that they need to use the pronouns, stating:

“I do have a lot of grace for that because it can take a while to like switch and especially with the older generations and there's a lot of those in the sport.”

The 29-year-old then spoke highly of the three-time NCAA champion Kara Goucher in the conversation for using the correct pronouns in her commentary, adding:

“But, Kara Goucher who is one of the NBC broadcasters she was an elite athlete. Yeah, she's kind of been like the trailblazer of it and she was the first to pick it up really really quickly and yeah she's now she's like the standard and it's like Kara gets it right every time. So, now all these other broadcasters are like, ‘Okay, we have to do that too’. It's been really cool to see.”

Nikki Hiltz shares a message for those unsure about how to use pronouns

Nikki Hiltz at Paris Olympics (Photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

In an interview, via NBC Sports, in July 2024, Goucher asked Nikki Hiltz about the message they would give to those who don’t understand and feel confused about the pronouns. They said:

“It's not about comprehension, it's about compassion. If someone's asking you, ‘Hey I go by Michael but I want to be called Mike. You don’t go why would you wanna be called that. You say ‘Oh ok’ and you have compassion for them. It's the same thing, right. I'm in the women's category, you know, I was assigned female at birth, but I don't want to be called she/her. My pronouns are they/them and that’s how I want to be preferred to. Like, it's not that deep."

It is worth noting that despite being born a female and competing in the women’s category, Nikki Hiltz prefers to be called using the pronouns they/them.