Fig 1: Number of photographs published N= national athletes, I=international athletes

Source: created by the author

Men are in the spotlight in the images where athletes are not playing a sport but doing an Olympic village activity. These are the captions of those images in which only men appear: “Selfie of basketball veterans,” “Nadal-Go in Rio,” “Spanish sportsmen and women pose in Barajas before leaving for Rio,” “The first departure from the village,” and “The priest Lusek among the Italian beach volleyball players.”

In the texts published those days, very few sportswomen appear. 2 August, the cover and pages 2 and 3 are on the “Dream Team” from the United States; pages 4 and 5 for Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer; and page 6 for Neymar and the Brazilian men’s football team. It is not until page 7 that a sportswoman appears: the Nepalese swimmer Singh, the youngest olympian and survivor of Nepal’s earthquake in 2015. The news focus, therefore, is not on sports itself. The Brazilian weightlifter Fernando Reis and the ballplayer Eli Pinedo share the spotlight on the next page on the back cover. Eli Pinedo responded to the “Test of the Games,” which Marca dedicates to a sportsman or woman every day. In the headline of this test, Usain Bolt is more important than the sportswoman herself:

Headline: “I would dance the Samba with Usain Bolt.”

Subheadline: Eli Pinedo, one of “Spain’s warrior’s,” would like to “be a rock star in another life.” She arrives in Rio, wanting to meet her idol Usain Bolt.

In the supplement “Ready…” from 3 August, the cover, pages 2 and 3, are dedicated to football. The photographs, infographics, and texts are quantitively and spatially balanced between women’s and men’s football. One aspect that can be improved upon, however, is the androcentric treatment (Vid. Alfaro, Bengoetxea, and Vázquez, 2010, p. 24) given to the Brazilian captain, Marta Vieria, who is called Pelé wearing a skirt. The footballer is feminised through the “skirt” when female footballers always play in shorts. The footballers share the spotlight in this supplement with the Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini, from the refugee team. The article on Yusra Mardini refers to events unrelated to her sports career: she saved 16 people by towing a boat from Turkey to Greece. Alba Torrens, who answers the Games test, is the only Spanish sportswoman referred to in that day’s supplement.

In the 4 August supplement, there are only two sportswomen, Ruth Beitia and Mireia Belmonte. The report titled “Medalitis is the average pattern” and another three dedicated to homosexual athletes who went to Rio. In the 5 August supplement, again, only two texts are devoted to women: one about the handball player Darly Zoqbi and another to the female NBA. As stated in the text dedicated to the women’s basketball team, “Spanish women’s sport was the protagonist of the London Games (…). However, their successes have not been enough for the girls to compete with men in terms of impact” (4/08/2016 p. 8).