The final show. Spain puts a pin in the games with Beita, the rhythmic gymnast’s, the basketball team’s and the mountain biker’s Carlos Coloma’s medals (22/08/2016).

The women are referred to by their name and surname when they participate in individual events or pairs. And if this is in a team, the women’s’ sport is indicated, as well as their gender, nationality of the team (Spanish women’s water polo) or via the generic term “girls” and their sport (the synchro or water polo girls, Elliot’s girls, and the handball girls), in the case of the 2012 headlines. Women are treated condescendingly and paternalistically through the noun “girl,” which is not the case for male athletes in any of the headlines which refer to them. Thus, the men’s football team is referred to as “Spain” or the basketball team with Spain or “the NBA,” but the “boys of basketball” or “the boys of handball” are not found. In 2016, as can be seen in the news headlines, Marca no longer used this unrecommended way of referring to sportswomen in those Olympic Games. Instead of saying “the girls give Spain hope,” the subheadline of the 11 August front page features the women’s handball and basketball team, and the volleyball doubles Liliana Fernández and Elsa Baquerizo referring to them as “the female sector”; the front page shows each of them in a photograph and the cover photograph names them.

Regarding photographs of the sportswomen on the front page, there are more of them in action during their sporting event that they have won (4 in 2012 and 8 in 2016) than those where they pose with their medal or celebrate their victory (2 in 2012 and 4 in 2016). The Spanish flag is only present in one in 2016 when Ruth Beitia celebrates her win.

Suppose we quantify the athletes’ sport, which received the most coverage in London 2012 and Rio 2016 in Marca. In that case, we can see in Fig. 3, 4, and 5 how the sports in which sportswomen won a medal received a logical information follow-up, not only because of the victory but also because they participated in more qualifying events until they achieved a spot on the podium. Even though no medal was won in 2012, many information units were registered in athletics because it includes many disciplines. There had been expectations that Ruth Beitia in the high jump and Marta Domínguez would win a medal that year in the running. Spanish women’s basketball is the sport with the most coverage in 2016 (24 news units), given that it is a sport followed widely by audiences. The Spanish team won a silver medal and participated in the Olympic Games after being unable to qualify to participate in the London 2012 Games, so there are no news units on basketball in that Olympic event.

Fig 3: Sports reported on in the news unit in which the protagonists are national sportsmen and women