Abstract

Sports media research often highlights the significant under-representation of female athletes. However, very little research in this area has focused on online sports media coverage. This study investigated the quantity and quality of media coverage received by Australian female athletes during the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in August 2016. The current study provides an analysis of three major Australian newspapers’ online versions and offers a valuable comparison to Litchfield and Osborne’s study on print versions of the same publications during Olympic years. This study investigates a simultaneous “raising of the bar” and “performing below par” of the Australian sports media in relation to a focus on female athletes during this period of time. Although there were a number of traditional narratives surrounding female representation in sports stories found, there were also some significant differences between online and print media related research in this area.