Influencia del éxito deportivo en la cobertura del deporte femenino español: los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 2012 y Río 2016

Abstract

Sporting success has a positive impact on the collective mood of a country and helps to strengthen its national identity. This is one reason why there is a correlation between the expectations for certain athletes to win and the social and media follow-up of them. The Spanish female athletes in London 2012 and Rio 2016 won more medals than the male athletes. This study analyses whether these achievements favoured greater media coverage, if they were narrated in terms of national pride, if female athletes were represented as sports references and whether the values that were highlighted correspond to those associated with exemplary sports practice. To examine such results, content analysis and critical reading of these Olympic Games’ special supplements published by the newspaper Marca is carried out. The results reveal that the news value of the athlete’s Spanish nationality prevails over her sporting achievements in the media coverage of women’s sport. Although women’s performance is associated with effort or a winning mentality, the inspiring role models in sport continue to be male athletes.

Keywords

• olympic games
• women’s sport
• critical feminist theory
• sporting success
• sports model
• national pride