Motherhood in the Olympic Context: An Analysis of News Published on the Most Accessed Sports Websites in Brazil and Spain

Abstract

Motherhood forms part of the life trajectory of many Olympic athletes. In this context, numerous news articles have focused on the sport–motherhood dyad. This paper seeks to contribute to this field of study, particularly through the lens of countries in the Global South. It compares the coverage of Olympic athletes engaged in motherhood by the most accessed sports news portals in Brazil and Spain. The corpus of analysis comprises articles published by the leading sports websites in Brazil and Spain — GE and MARCA, respectively — between January 2021 and August 2024, spanning the Tokyo and Paris Olympic cycles. The methodology combines thematic content analysis and interviews. The findings reveal a shared journalistic tendency to frame the topic through narratives of difficulty and exceptionality, often romanticising the subject and marginalising its athletic dimension. Notwithstanding the pervasive bias that subordinates athletes' professional achievements to their personal lives, there has been a growing space for politicised debates on the sport–motherhood intersection, contributing to positive developments — particularly influenced by maternal activism.