Date of Award
2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Anne Figert
Abstract
This is an exploratory study of media coverage of the track and field competitions at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Data were collected by looking at six digital news sources in the U.S. the week before, during, and up to a week after each respective competition, and were coded for amount of coverage and themes of coverage, using both structured and open coding systems. As hypothesized, coverage of the Olympics was much more comprehensive, with more than four times as many Olympic stories as Paralympic stories. Olympic men received the largest amount of coverage in a random sub-sample of my data, even though there was gender parity among Olympic athletes in terms of both team size and medals won. Within the Paralympic sample, wheelchair athletes, visually impaired athletes, and athletes with more significant cerebral palsy were underrepresented in the coverage; no coverage was found regarding athletes with intellectual disabilities (T20). In contrast to prior research, themes such as infantilization, trivialization, and sexualization were relatively rare in the data. When I did see trivialization, it tended to be a Paralympic athlete trivializing their sport or disability. For the most part, the articles highlighted challenges more than opportunities, although this ratio was closer within the Paralympic sample. Within the qualitative findings, various themes (medicalization, objectification, performance as advocacy, trivialization) and narrative arcs (strategy, redemption, and self discovery) were explored. Findings are discussed in terms of the media's role in shaping whose stories are told, as well as the questions these data raise for future research.
Recommended Citation
Holzmueller, Aaron Jacob, "The Intersection of Gender and Disability in Media Coverage of Athletes" (2026). Master's Theses. 4595.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/4595
