Italian Television Sport Coverage during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to get a gender perspective in Italy of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. The proportion of television airtime coverage of female athletes (29%) was close to the proportion of the Italian female participation in the Games (International 38%, Italian 28%), with no gender differences regarding the placement of women’s sport in the broadcast. Women’s events hit 26 percent of total mean audience, which included 40 percent females. The male share was 31 percent for both total Olympic events and women-only sports, while the female share was 19 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Sport TV female professionals ranged from 4 percent (TV operators) to 33 percent (staff members), while Italian Olympic Committee female delegates ranged from 0 percent (Presidents of National Sport Federations) to 19.2 percent (medical doctors), indicating a strong male hegemony in sport-related careers in Italy.