There is the belief that many female athletes "are not getting the credit they rightfully deserve” from NBC and other media outlets “despite performances on par with their male counterparts," according to CBS' Jamie Yuccas. There also has been "more than just one incident that’s been perceived as sexist” during the coverage. That includes comments from NBC’s Dan Hicks about the husband of Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu being “responsible” for her world-record swim and a comment from NBC's Rowdy Gaines about how U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky "swims like a man.” USA Today's Nancy Armour said of the Hosszu controversy, “The fact that people immediately jumped on it and said, ‘Hey, that’s not appropriate, give her the credit not him’ -- that to me is a sign of progress. It’s unfortunate that we’re still having to have these discussions but at least people are recognizing we shouldn’t be having the discussion” (“CBS This Morning,” 8/10).
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: The AP's David Bauder noted people are watching NBC "closely for signs of sexism after the excessive attention paid to Hosszu's husband." Bauder: "So when Liam McHugh narrated a clip showing a goal by 18-year-old U.S. soccer player Mallory Pugh by saying, 'just about three months ago she was planning for her prom,' he should have asked himself: would he make the same reference if it were an 18-year-old male player?" (AP, 8/10). Bauder also noted NBC's Chris Marlowe last night during the beach volleyball competition said, "Another stuff for the mother of three, Kerri Walsh Jennings." That "may seem like a benign identifier, but not every woman takes it that way." Bauder: "When's the last time you've heard a swimming announcer say, 'great flip turn by the father of one, Michael Phelps'?" (AP, 8/11). FOXNEWS.com's Carole Glines noted many critics "cringed when NBC's Jim Watson said of the U.S. women's gymnastics team members, speaking to each other on the sidelines, 'They might as well be standing around at the mall'" (FOXNEWS.com, 8/9). In London, Zoe Strimpel writes while "sexism has been particularly noticeable on American TV, the BBC is not exempt." One commentator for the net "attracted ire when he called the Judo match in which Majlinda Kelmendi won Kosovo's first-ever medal a 'catfight'" (London TELEGRAPH, 8/11).
LOOKING TOO HARD AT THINGS: MOTHER JONES' Becca Andrews noted in an effort to find its Olympics "hometown angle," the Chicago Tribune on Sunday sent a "misguided tweet" referring to U.S. trapshooter Corey Cogdell-Unrein. She had just won her second Bronze medal of her career, yet the tweet "didn't mention any of this -- not her name or her event -- just the fact that she's married" to Bears DE Mitch Unrein (MOTHERJONES.com, 8/9). However, SLATE's Christina Cauterucci deemed the tweet was not sexist, as the paper was "trying to make an international story (the Olympics) local, weighing the information that would get readers interested (a connection to a local football team) with the fact that no one really cares about trap shooting or knows who Cogdell-Unrein is." Cogdell-Unrein is from Alaska and "currently lives in Colorado; her only Chicago connection is her husband." The Tribune "responded to criticism on Monday with a tweet that said the paper 'focused too hard on trying to emphasize the local connection' in its initial tweet" (SLATE.com, 8/8).
SEX SELLS: In N.Y., Guy Trebay notes it is "hard to imagine in earlier and more puritanical times a feature like '36 of the Greatest Summer Olympic Bulges' appearing in a mainstream American magazine, even one as prurient as Cosmopolitan." A slide show on the magazine's site that "captures and rates the genital endowments of various male athletes almost immediately went viral across social media." Trebay writes "everybody’s looking," as evidenced by "how quickly the image of the shirtless, oil-slicked Pita Taufatofua ... stoked the internet" following him carrying the Tongan flag at Friday's Opening Ceremony. Much of the commentary after Taufatofua’s later appearance on “Today” wearing traditional Tongan garb "focused on the giddiness of the show’s female hosts -- Hoda Kotb, Natalie Morales and Jenna Bush Hager -- as they lasciviously stroked the shiny torso of an athlete who looked ready to be deep-fried" (N.Y. TIMES, 8,11).
