Gender Marking and Racial Stereotyping at the 2004 Athens Games

This qualitative discourse analysis examines the occurrence of gender marking and racial stereotyping in the commentary of the 2004 Olympics. Four strategies are identified and involve the tendency of announcers to engage in the framing of female athletes according to their familial roles, the second-guessing of their emotional and/or psychological states, the selective application of masculine descriptors to successful female athletes and the grouping of Asian athletes as a collective unit and ascribing them with common cultural stereotypes.