Smiling assassins, brides-to-be and super mums: the importance of gender and celebrity in media framing of female athletes at the 2016 Olympic Games

The Olympic Games offer a rare opportunity for women in sport to receive broad media interest, with recognizable and familiar athletes receiving higher levels of attention by journalists during this media-event. This article reports on a case study of representations of three female athletes within the British print press during the 2016 Olympic Games. Nicola Adams (boxing), Charlotte Dujardin (dressage) and Jessica Ennis-Hill (heptathlon) were all gold medallists in 2012, so already had some celebrity in Britain prior to 2016, which journalists built on during the Games. Representations of these athletes were found to be highly ambivalent, praising their athletic achievements whilst simultaneously undermining their prowess through questioning the sport, level of competition, and individual athletic performances. Analysis illustrates the importance of celebrity and visibility to female athletes in receiving mainstream media attention, but such interest remains ambiguous and understated.