Americans are taking to social media to express their utter disgust and dismay after an NBC announcer credited the husband of Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu as the one “responsible” for her world record-shattering swim in the 400m individual medley on Saturday.
Hosszu – nicknamed “The Iron Lady” in Hungary – swam the race in 4 minutes, 26.36 seconds, smashing the previous world record by a solid two seconds.
And yet, NBC credited her husband / coach Shane Tusup as the one responsible. Not her, the woman who swam 400m in less time than it takes to make a decent cuppa. Her husband.
“There’s the man responsible for turning his wife into an entirely new swimmer…” REALLY, NBC?
— Charlotte Wilder (@TheWilderThings) August 7, 2016
NBC Announcers just gave the credit for Hungary’s Hosszu’s world record swim to…her husband. ?????? #rio2016
— Nina Bargiel (@slackmistress) August 7, 2016
Katinka Hosszu won the gold & broke the world record. Her husband/coach probably helped but he doesn’t own the credit. Get it straight, NBC.
— Melissa Geschwind (@MGeschwind) August 7, 2016
It’s true that Tusup coming on as Hosszu’s coach after her disappointing turn at the London 2012 Olympics (she returned home without a single medal) has seen a marked improvement in her success as a swimmer.
And besides, as the NY Times pointed out just last week, their relationship is hardly what you’d describe as ‘supportive’.
“I think the biggest issue with her is her husband,” the piece quoted her former couch Dave Salo as saying. “I think you have to look at her motivation. Is it fear or confidence that is driving her?”
Plenty of others have noticed Tusup’s overly aggressive poolside behaviour. This was his reaction after she lost the 200-metre freestyle to Missy Franklin in a 2015 competition:
Everyone seemed to enjoy watching the women’s 2free except this guy. Calm down man. pic.twitter.com/MyS9x5a9Gt
— Josh Prenot (@JoshPrenot) December 13, 2015
And then in April this year, after Hosszu had what the NY Times described as a “rare bad day at the office” and finished 5th in both the 200m individual medley and the 200m backstroke, Tusup allegedly threatened her with physical violence.
“After the backstroke, Hosszu avoided making eye contact with Tusup, who upbraided her while swimmers from other teams stared. Tusup continued his critique in the warm-down area, where two people said they overheard him suggesting to Hosszu that she stay in the water and drown. The night ended with Tusup kissing Hosszu on the forehead and pulling her close in a long embrace on the deck.”
So yeah. ‘Yikes’ does not begin to cover it.
NBC commentator Dan Hicks, the one responsible for accidentally giving her husband the credit, has learnt that pedals indeed go backwards.
“With live TV, there are often times you look back and wished you had said things differently,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, but explained he was trying to paint an accurate picture of the swimmer’s relationship with her husband / coach. “It is impossible to tell Katinka’s story without accurately giving appropriate credit to Shane, and that’s what I was trying to do.”
Leslie Jones – who btw is giving hands down the BEST Olympics coverage the Games has ever seen – summed it all up nicely.
Ok I don’t appreciate her husband but whatever pic.twitter.com/vmjdSREdmW
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) August 7, 2016
Hosszu hasn’t commented on the incident, with her last post to social media celebrating her bloody epic win.
Source: Twitter.
Photo: Getty / VCG.
To access support services / 24hr counselling for domestic violence, call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
