Idolatry in the Pan-American Games of 2007: an analysis of sports journalism

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of the journalistic material concerning the Pan-American Games of 2007, with a focus on resources used by the press in the “construction” of our sporting heroes. As a part of the schedule of the project “Media, Idolatry, Identity and Popular Culture” supported by CNPq and coordinated by Helal, were collected news from the newspapers O Globo and Lance! during the period from 16 to 30 July 2007. The coverage of the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro media shows that attempts to build idols in the field of amateur sports are much more complex and use a different logic than that of football heroes formation. Here, we value the “sweat” and “overcoming” and elements such as “talent” and “magic” are relegated to a secondary plan.