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An Analysis of Amaya Valdemoro’s Portrayal in a Spanish Newspaper during the Athens Olympics 2004

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Olympic Women and the Media

Part of the book series: Global Culture and Sport ((GCS))

Abstract

In this chapter I focus on how Amaya Valdemoro, the captain of the Spanish basketball team, and the Spanish basketball team were represented in the Spanish newspaper El País during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The analysis of this representation is based on a poststructuralist sexual difference theory. This approach derives fundamentally from the Belgian philosopher, psychoanalyst and linguist Luce Irigaray’s theory of sexual difference as the original and primary human difference. Irigaray calls for a focus on the radical difference between the two sexes, and therefore aims to build a theory based on the uniqueness and irreducibility of femininity and female ways of being. In order to make sense of Irigaray’s theory, I shall use a narrative to examine the content and structure of the articles centred on Amaya Valdemoro and then discuss how Irigaray’s concepts can be used to analyse the Olympic media coverage.

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© 2009 Montserrat Martin

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Martin, M. (2009). An Analysis of Amaya Valdemoro’s Portrayal in a Spanish Newspaper during the Athens Olympics 2004. In: Markula, P. (eds) Olympic Women and the Media. Global Culture and Sport. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230233942_10

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