Between Opportunity and Scrutiny: Female Winter Olympians Navigating Sports Mediatization

This study applies mediatization theory to examine how female Winter Olympians experience and negotiate media interactions in an era of rapid transformation in sports communication. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 female winter Olympians who competed at PyeongChang 2018 and/or Beijing 2022, this study reveals that despite radical transformations in the sports media landscape, traditional media coverage remains important for the participants; yet, it becomes a challenge rather than an asset when they are faced with a crisis. Furthermore, from the beginning of their sports career female athletes were left to deal with navigating difficult situations on their own, without prior media relations training. The findings suggest that - in light of profound issues female athletes were experiencing early on in their career at the junior level - sports organizations should dedicate resources to conducting media relations training for younger athletes in order to develop comprehensive media strategies.