Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Introduction to Female Olympians

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Female Olympians

  • 434 Accesses

Abstract

Flipping the long-standing paradigm about negative media representations of sportswomen, this book celebrates their progress, especially relative to the Olympic Games. Inspired by 2012 London, it begins by reviewing theoretical approaches to the topic before introducing the author’s gendered critical discourse analysis (GCDA), along with the notion of sport mediatization, a review of the literature, and applications of sexism, racism, and ageism. Globally celebratory, it introduces both well-known and lesser-known female Olympians (and Paralympians) and outlines what to expect in next chapters in terms of their intersecting history, politics, economics, and sociocultural accomplishments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Aaseng, Nathan. 2001. Women Olympic champions. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, David L. 2006. Sport: Commerce—Culture. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andronicos, Manolis. 2002. Olympia: The archaeological site and the museum. Athens: Ekdotike Athenon S. A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, Judith. 2003. Positioning gender in discourse: A feminist methodology. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Berdahl, Jennifer, Eric Luis Uhlmann, and Feng Bai. 2015. Win-win: Female and h male athletes from more gender equal nations perform better in international sports competitions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 56(January): 1–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, Alina. 2002. Is it time for a victory lap? Changes in the media coverage of women in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 37(3–4): 415–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bijkerk, Anthony Th. 2004. Fanny Blankers-Koen: A biography. Journal of Olympic History 12(May): 56–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blue, Adrianne. 1988. Faster, higher, further: Women’s triumphs and disasters at the Olympics. London: Virago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, Martha. 2010. Unlikely settings, remarkable accomplishments: Insights and evidence from girls and sports programs in the developing world. Washington, DC: Interagency Youth Working Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, Christine. 2012b. Finally: It’s all about the women at the London Olympics. USA Today, July 27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, Toni, Jorid Hovden, and Pirkko Markula, eds. 2010. Sportswomen at the Olympics: A global content analysis of newspaper coverage. Rotterdam and Boston, MA: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brummet, Barry, eds. 2009. Sporting rhetoric: Performance, games, and politics. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butterfield, Moira. 2012. The Olympics: Records. Mankato, MN: Sea-to-sea.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cahn, Susan K. 1994. Coming on strong: Gender and sexuality in twentieth century women’s sport. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, Deborah. [1985] 1992. Feminism and linguistic theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christopher, Matt. 1998. On the field with Mia Hamm. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coates, Jennifer. 2004. Women, men, and language: A sociolinguistic account of gender differences in language. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson ESL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coates, Jennifer, and Pia Pichler, eds. 2010. Language and gender. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, Isobel. 2012. London Olympics breaks new ground for women. CNN World, July 25. http://www.globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/25/london-olympics-breaks-new-ground-for-women/

  • Comaneci, Nadia. 2004. Letters to a young gymnast. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, Raewyn W. 1995/2005. Masculinities. 2nd ed. California: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creedon, Pamela J., eds. 1994. Women, media and sport: Challenging gender values. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daddario, Gina. 1994. Chilly scenes of the 1992 Winter games: The mass media and the marginalization of female athletes. Sociology of Sport Journal 11(2): 275–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1998. Women’s sport and spectacle: Gendered television coverage and the Olympic games. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daddario, Gina, and Brian J. Wigley. 2007. Gender marking and racial stereotyping at the 2004 Athens Games. Journal of Sports Media, Volume 2: 29–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daniels, Stephanie, and Anita Tedder. 2000. A proper spectacle: Women Olympians 1900–1936. Celebrating 100 years of women in the Olympics. Houghton Conquest, England: ZeNaNa Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, David, eds. 2004. Critical readings: Sport, culture and the media. Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Michael D. 1992. Black American women in Olympic track and field: A complete illustrated reference. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donnelly, Peter, and Michele K. Donnelly. 2013a. The London 2012 Olympics: A gender equality audit. Centre for Sport Policy Studies Research Report. Toronto: CSCPS, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dublin, Anne. 2004. Bobbie Rosenfeld: The Olympian who could do everything. Toronto, ON: Second Story Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, Margaret C. 2006. Gender warriors in sport: Women and the media. In Handbook of sports and media, ed. Arthur A. Raney and Jennings Bryant, 231–252. Mahwah, NJ: LEA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabos, Bettina. 1999. From rags to riches: The story of class advancement in women’s figure skating coverage. In Mediated women: Representations in popular culture , ed. Marian Meyers, 133–149. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairclough, Norman. 2001. Language and power. 2nd ed. White Plains, NY: Pearson ESL.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. Language and globalization. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson ESL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feder-Kane, Abigail M. 2000. “A radiant smile from the lovely lady”: Over-determined femininity in “ladies” figure skating. In Reading sport: Critical essays on power and representation, ed. Susan Birrell and Mary G. McDonald, 233–206. Boston, MA: Northeastern UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruni, Frank. 2012b, August 12. The soul of the Olympics. New York Times: SR3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, Dawn. 1965. Gold medal girl: The confessions of an Olympic champion. London: Nicholas Kaye.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, Linda K. 2006b. Sport, rhetoric, and gender: Historical perspectives and media representations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, Linda K. 2007. The spicy, gendered language of sport. Chicago, IL: National Communication Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———., eds. 2009a. Sexual sports rhetoric: Historical and media contexts of violence. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———., eds. 2009b. Sexual sports rhetoric: Global and universal contexts. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, Ali D. 2010. An analysis of gender coverage in U.S. print and electronic media during the 2010 winter Olympic games. Unpublished M.A. thesis, California Polytechnic State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gee, James Paul. 2011. An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. 3rd ed. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guttmann, Allen. [1992] 2002. The Olympics: A history of the modern games. 2nd ed. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, Sharon Kinney. 2004. The life of Helen Stephens: The Fulton Flash. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves, Jennifer. 1984. Women and the Olympic phenomenon. In Five ring circus: Money, power, and politics at the Olympic games, ed. Alan Tomlinson and Garry Whannel, 53–70. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1994. Sporting females: Critical issues in the history and sociology of women’s sports. London and New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2001. Heroines of sport: The politics of difference and identify. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. Olympic women: A struggle for recognition. In Women and sport in the United States: A documentary reader, ed. Jean O’Reilly and Susan B. Cahn, 3–14. Northeastern UP: Lebanon, NH.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrington, Kate. 2008. Gender and language research methodologies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgs, Catriona T., Karen H. Weiller, and Scott B. Martin. 2003. Gender bias in the 1996 Olympic games: A comparative analysis. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 27(1): 52–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, Courtney, Elizabeth Shaheen, Corrine M. Daprano, and Peter Titlebaum. 2009, March 11. Women’s access to sport in China and the United States. http://www.sports-media.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=31

  • Hodkiewicz, Lisa Gabrielle. 2008. Breaking the norms: Women and the modern Olympic games of Pierre de Coubertin. Unpublished thesis, History Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

    Google Scholar 

  • Houry, Cecile. 2011. American women and the modern summer Olympic games: A story of obstacles and struggles for participation and equality. Unpublished dissertation, University of Miami.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvie, Grant. 2012. Sport, culture, and society: An introduction. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keenan, Sarah. 2012, August 8. Sexism, racism, and swimming at the London 2012 Olympics. Racialicious: The intersection of race and popular culture. http://www.racialicious.com/2012/08/08/sexism-racism-and-swimming-at-the-london-2012-olympics

  • Kennedy, Eileen, and Laura Hills. 2009. Sport, media and society . New York.Berg

    Google Scholar 

  • Killion, Ann. 2012, August 12. Amid 40th anniversary of Title IX, women set new standard in London. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com

  • Kinnick, Katherine N. 1998. Gender bias in newspaper profiles of 1996 Olympic athletes: A content analysis of five major dailies. Women’s Studies in Communication 21: 212–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, Robin. 1975. Language and women’s place. New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazar, Michelle M., eds. 2008. Feminist critical discourse analysis: Studies in gender, power and ideology. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leder, Jane. 1996. Grace and glory: A century of women in the Olympics. Washington, DC: Multi- Media Partners.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leigh, Mary Henson. 1974. The evolution of women’s participation in the summer Olympic games 1900–1948. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenskyj, Helen Jefferson. 2000. Inside the Olympic industry: Power, politics, and activism. Albany, NY: SUNY.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. The best Olympics ever? Social impacts of Sydney 2000. Albany, NY: SUNY.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008. Olympic industry resistance: Challenging Olympic power and propaganda. Albany, NY: SUNY.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Women and the Olympics: Research, activism, and an alternative view. Thirdspace: A Journal of Feminist Theory 9(2): 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Gender politics and the Olympic industry. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Pivot.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lundby, Knut. 2009. Introduction: ‘Mediatization’ as key. In Mediatization: Concept, changes, consequences, ed. Knut Lundby. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maraniss, David. 2008. Rome 1960: The summer Olympics that stirred the world. Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markula, Pirkko, eds. 2009. Olympic women and the media: International perspectives. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • McConnell-Ginet, Sally. 2011. Gender, sexuality, and meaning: Linguistic practice and politics. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mean, Lindsey J. 2010. Making masculinity and framing femininity: FIFA, soccer, and World Cup web sites. In Examining identity in sports media, ed. Heather L. Hundley and Andrew C. Billings, 65–86. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Messner, Michael A. 1995. Power at play: Sports and the problem of masculinity. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. Taking the field: Women, men, and sports. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2007. Out of play: Critical essays on gender and sport. Albany, NY: SUNY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Migliaccio, Eric. 2005. Women in Olympic sports. Irvine, CA: Griffin Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miragaya, Ana Maria. 2006. The process of inclusion of women in the Olympic games. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Universidade Gama Filho, Rio de Janerio, Brazil. http://doc.rero.ch/record/12700/files/MIRAGAYA_Ana_-_Tese_completa.pdf

  • Mohammad, Nadia S. 2012. Muslim women and the London Olympics: Series of historic firsts. Washington Post, July 7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrottet, Tony. 2004. The naked Olympics: The true story of the Ancient games. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pieroth, Doris H. 1996. Their day in the sun: Women of the 1932 Olympics. Seattle: University of Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plowden, Martha. 1995. Olympic black women. Gretna: Pelican Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Remnick, David. 1996. Inside-out: The NBC strategy that makes the games a hit. The New Yorker, 26–28, August 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, Roger. 2010. Elana Meyer: Still pushing the pace. Runners World, September 14. http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/elana-meyer-still-pushing-pace?page=single

  • Rowe, David. 2012, November. Opening ceremonies and closing narratives: The embrace of media and the Olympics. Journalism Media and Cultural Studies 2: 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shergold, Adam. 2012. The Muslim women who overcame the odds and the prejudice to make history today on the Olympic stage. Mail Online, August 3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183262/Olympics-2012-The-Muslim-women-overcame-odds-make-London.html

  • Simri, Uriel. 1977. A historical analysis of the role of women in the modern Olympics. Netanya, Israel: Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1979. Women at the modern Olympics. Netanya, Israel: Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solo, Hope. 2012. Solo: A memoir of hope. New York: Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tannen, Deborah. 1994. Gender and discourse. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torres, Dara. 2010. Age is just a number: Achieve your dreams at any stage in your life. New York: Three Rivers Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuggle, C.A., Suzanne Huffman, and Dana Rosengard. 2007. A descriptive analysis of NBC’s coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics. Journal of Sports Media 2(1): 53–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Dijk, Teun A. 1988. News as discourse. Hillside, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008. Discourse and power. Houndsmills: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vincent, John. 2005. Equitable media coverage of female and male athletes: Is there a solution? Sports Media 34(April). http://www.sports-media.org/newpedimension8.htm

  • Welch, Paula, and D. Margaret Costa. 1994. A century of Olympic competition. In Women and sport: Interdisciplinary perspectives, ed. D. Margaret Costa and Sharon Ruth Guthrie, 123–138. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wodak, Ruth, and Michael Meyer, eds. 2009. Methods of critical discourse analysis. 2nd ed. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodward, Kath. 2012. Sex power and the games. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Worcester State University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

    Linda K. Fuller

Authors
  1. Linda K. Fuller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fuller, L.K. (2016). An Introduction to Female Olympians. In: Female Olympians. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58281-2_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation