Sportswomen at the Olympics

Do the global sports media continue to ignore and downplay female sporting success - or is this invisibility changing? Does the world's largest media event, the Olympic Games, which places sport at the centre of world attention, also represent a media showcase for the achievements of female athletes? This is the main focus of this book. It explores women's printed media coverage during the 2004 Olympic Games and brings together the largest quantitative collection of content analyses of media coverage of a single event using the same methodology. Expanding beyond research centred on the English-speaking world, it includes analyses of newspapers published in 14 languages and research teams from 18 countries, including Norway, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Canada, the United States of America, Turkey, China, Japan, South Korea, South Africa and New Zealand. Based on comparative analyses the book provides a current picture of the place of sportswomen in global media. The comparative approach further informs and demonstrates how the methodology of content analysis can be used on printed media texts and its strengths and limitations when used across borders of language, culture and nation. With contributions from across Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Oceania, Sportswomen at the Olympics: A Global Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage provides evidence of the ongoing gendered difference in sports media coverage and shows how media may play a global role in the transformation and reproduction of gender structures in sports.