Katinka Hosszu Shatters World Record, Commentator Gives Credit To Her Husband

Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu set the Olympic world on fire when she demolished the 400-meter individual medley world record Saturday night. By many, Hosszu’s swim was immediately recognized for what it was: An impressive feat of athleticism for which the 27-year-old swimmer spent four years working.

But after the race, at least one person came under fire for giving credit for Hosszu’s world record to someone else. Once she touched the wall, the camera panned to Katinka’s husband, Shane Tussup, who was wildly celebrating his wife’s world-record-breaking gold-medal performance.

Find someone who loves you the way Katinka Hosszu’s husband loves her. https://t.co/BWGaUNiTHM https://t.co/iJUxPVkBRG

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2016

That’s when it happened: NBC commentator Dan Hicks took Hosszu’s accomplishment and placed the credit squarely on Tusup’s shoulders.

“There’s the man responsible for turning his wife into an entirely new swimmer…”

Twitter and social media immediately went bonkers in response to the comment, with many fans calling the comment from Hicks sexist. Admittedly, Tusup is Hosszu’s coach as well as her husband, but that didn’t stop fans from decrying Dan Hicks’ comments.

OK, so Hosszú (swimmer) shatters a world record by 2 seconds, and NBC’s broadcaster gives the credit to her husband and coach. WTF? #Sexism

— Tim Gibson (@timgibson) August 7, 2016

After a woman just won a gold medal, announcer literally said, “And there’s the man responsible,” as camera showed her husband/coach.

— Elizabeth Picciuto (@epicciuto) August 7, 2016

In winning the 400 IM Saturday night, Hosszu destroyed a world record which was previously thought to be nearly unbreakable. At the 2012 Olympic Games, Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen broke the previous world record by more than a full second and finished the race off with an incredible freestyle leg. Because Ye Shiwen’s freestyle leg was so impressive — faster than that of American male Ryan Lochte in the same event on the same evening — swimming experts and fans thought the record would be difficult to beat.

But for Hosszu, the time didn’t prove to be a challenge. As she headed into the freestyle leg, which is the final leg of the race, Hosszu was more than five seconds ahead of world-record pace. All she had to do was hold on to break the world record.

And break it she did, smashing the previous mark by more than two seconds. Ye Shiwen’s previous 400 IM world record was 4:28.43, and on Saturday, the Katinka Hosszu lowered the world record mark to 4:26.36. She defeated silver-medal winner Maya Dirado of the United States by more than five seconds.

Hosszu also swam the 400 IM at the 2012 Olympics in London, where she finished fourth in a time of 4:33.49. After the devastating fourth-place finish, the former University of California swimmer fell into a depression. Hosszu had expected to win the event, and disappointing finishes in the 200-meter individual medley and 200-meter butterfly contributed to her depression.

It was her husband, her boyfriend at the time, who helped her dig out of the dark place, she has said. Before the 2016 Rio Olympics began, Hosszu talked to the Washington Post about her experience after London.

“In London, I was so scared of what’s going to happen if I lose. It was awful, really. I just felt like: ‘This is my time; I need to show it. It’s now or never.’ I put this pressure on myself.”

Hosszu asked Tusup to help her train, and before long the couple married. Together, Hosszu and Tusup revolutionized her training program, which shifted so that Katinka would train less and race more. The thought, she said, was that if she was swimming more events she would put less pressure on herself in each of them. Additionally, the Washington Post reports, Tusup saw an opportunity to “double or triple her earning power by stacking her competitive program.”

Katinka Hosszu credits her quick improvement to the coaching philosophy of her husband, who was a backstroke swimmer on the USC team at the same time as Hosszu. Because Katinka is quick to credit Shane with her success, some Twitter users came to Dan Hicks defense, saying that coaches deserve credit just like athletes — even if the coach happens to be the athlete’s husband.

@epicciuto If you’re referring to the Hungarian, apparently there is a story there about how her coach revolutionized her training.

— Flames on (@thesideofmyface) August 7, 2016

What do you think? Do you think NBC commentator Dan Hicks’ comments about Katinka Hosszu’s world record were inappropriate? Why or why not?

[Image via Katinka Hosszu/Instagram]