Gendered Profiles of Olympic History: Sportscaster Dialogue in the 2008 Beijing Olympics

One of the few areas of sports media in which women athletes receive substantial exposure is within the Olympic telecast. This study explores gender differences within 74.5 hours of the NBC's 2008 prime time Olympic telecasts in terms of (a) raw exposure (clock-time devoted to each gender) and (b) sportscaster dialogue (descriptions of success, failure, personality, and personality ascribed to male and female athletes). Results indicate that the gap between men and women's sports clock-time is widening (an 8.4% differential compared to a 4.6% differential in the 2004 Athens Games). In addition, seven significant dialogue differences were detected between male and female athletes.