From Genetics to Stigma: Dismantling Sports Stereotypes about the Global South

This combination of factors often leads journalists to metonymically associate athletes from the Global South with the disasters that occur in these regions. Wars, famines, violence, poverty, and crime are the stereotypical conceptual frames in which the territories they represent in international competitions are frequently labeled.

According to Simon Ličen, in “Black as Kenenisa Bekele in a tunnel”: Representation of African athletes in Slovenian Olympic broadcasting, this type of media representation is particularly evident in the case of African athletes, who are often perceived as symbols of an entire nation or as exotic figures who reach the elite level of sport more because of their genetic makeup than through hard, rigorous, and scientific work.

Such was the case of former long-distance runner and world record holder Haile Gebrselassie, who was often regarded as the representative of all Ethiopia, his homeland, to the point of becoming an informal ambassador for his country. In Western sports journalism, Gebrselassie was positioned as a political spokesperson for Ethiopia and was routinely asked whether he might one day run for the presidency of his country. It is unlikely that this same question would be posed to young Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, who currently holds the top position in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) ranking.

Race, ethnicity, and nationality play a significant role in news coverage. Race is understood as a category that divides people according to skin color or phenotypic traits, while ethnicity is conceived as a concept encompassing shared cultural characteristics attributed to a common ancestry. Citizenship and nationality are explained as a legal relationship between an individual and a sovereign state, as well as a sense of belonging to a nation.

These three elements—race, ethnicity, and nationality—shape an individual’s identity. A person who is Black, mixed-race, low-income, Indigenous, and from the Global South is likely to experience unequal and discriminatory sports coverage, particularly by Western journalists who are unaware of what happens on the other side of the world, who ignore the history and virtues of other peoples, and who remain in the comfort zone fostered by questionable news routines based on rumor and assumptions.

In the study of identity in sports, conducted by Professor Jeffrey Kassing and his colleagues in Communication in the Community of Sport, three race-related biases are identified as being (re)produced within society: athletic intelligence, athletic performance, and leadership.

Athletic intelligence: It is common for reporters to emphasize cognitive qualities such as intelligence, sharpness, and reasoning in Caucasian, white athletes, while in the case of Black, mixed-race, or Indigenous athletes, the focus is placed on physical attributes such as speed and strength. For example, Erin Ash and Gregory Cranmer, in Transcontextual Effects of Racialized Sports Media Framing, note that Black quarterbacks in American football—those responsible for leading and executing their team’s offensive plays—are often described as “big guys with rifle arms, good mobility, and good feet,” whereas white quarterbacks are portrayed as intelligent and tactical.

Athletic performance: Media outlets perpetuate the idea that Black athletes possess innate physical ability and capacity due to the geographic conditions and economic hardships of their childhood environment, whereas white athletes achieve high levels of performance through commitment and effort. It is common, for instance, to attribute the dominance of African long-distance runners to supposed genetic superiority, tied to the belief that they had to run for miles across African plains every day to fetch water. As I pointed out in my research with Laura Vargas, A construção estereotipada do desempenho atlético dos ciclistas Nairo Quintana e Vincenzo Nibali na imprensa generalista e especializada de França, Itália e Espanha, Colombian road cyclist Nairo Quintana, a mixed-race athlete and winner of the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta a España, and a Tour de France podium finisher, was wrongly portrayed as someone who took up cycling to escape poverty—a claim he has denied on several occasions. The press would anecdotally repeat that he rode his bicycle to school in order to save the cost of hiring a vehicle to transport him.

Leadership: White athletes are often credited with an innate ability to lead their teams, whereas Black, mixed-race, and Indigenous athletes are more often highlighted for their physical superiority, with little to no acknowledgment of their leadership skills. Some journalists adopt an evolutionist conception of the body, believing that Black athletes developed speed and strength because they were enslaved and had to run to avoid being forced into labor by their enslavers. They fail to conceive of a person of this race as capable of incorporating cognitive competencies such as intelligence, tactical skill, a winning mindset, or strategic planning.

In all these cases, racial and ethnic stereotypes are far from harmless. While the professional practice of a sport may indeed depend on tradition, geography, and the availability of economic, logistical, training, and infrastructural resources, the press has at times reinforced false generalizations about athletes and their qualities. Racist and xenophobic stereotypes and expressions are no less harmful in sport, even if they are perceived as anecdotal situations within competition. During the Slovenian television coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a temporary power outage occurred in the commentators’ booth at the Olympic stadium. One of the reporters described the blacked-out monitor screen as being like “meeting Kenenisa Bekele in a tunnel.” Bekele was an Ethiopian athlete, a specialist in long-distance events, and an Olympic champion in both the 10,000 and 5,000 meters, among other achievements.

The Dutch linguist Teun van Dijk warns of the existence of a “new racism,” whose forms are discursive, both in text and speech, as evidenced in sports and other cultural production. He argues that this “new” racism is not expressed through overt episodes of violence or radical segregation, but can in fact be even more harmful, as it is taken to be a normal, legitimate, and common-sense expression—tacitly accepted by the dominant majority group—beneath which an ethnic hegemony truly lies.

An athlete who has had to confront these stereotypes is American golfer Tiger Woods, one of the most important figures in the history of the sport, with 15 majors won (the four most prestigious championships in professional men’s golf) and 82 PGA Tour titles (the main professional men’s golf circuit in the United States). According to Alexander Deeb and Adam Love in Media Representations of Multiracial Athletes, sports journalists often label Tiger as African American; however, he has resisted this racially restrictive interpretation of his identity. For this reason, he coined the term “Cablinasian,” a blend of words created to acknowledge his multiracial heritage, which includes Black, white/Caucasian, Native American, and Asian ancestry.

Media in the Global South
There are news approaches to sports coverage by media outlets in the Global South that also merit review. One example is the tendency to construct narratives that create a competitive disadvantage for their athletes by overvaluing the tradition, history, and virtues of athletes from industrialized countries. Expressions such as “facing the Teutons,” “the global powerhouse,” “the gifted,” or “the hegemonic victor” unconsciously place athletes from the Global South at an inferior position when facing those from the North in international tournaments.

Another aspect of the narrative that should be questioned is the journalistic cliché of highlighting only personal overcoming in adverse environments as the primary reason for an athlete from the Global South to have excelled in a sport. Repeating that they overcame poverty or succeeded despite surviving in a violent environment often does not provide an accurate portrayal of their motivations and abilities. It is highly likely that victory in the competitive sports arena was due more to tactical intelligence, a winning mindset oriented toward achieving objectives, the scientific rigor of their training, as well as the natural and cultivated strength and skill of their body.

Ethical Guidelines
Based on the aforementioned authors, my experience as a researcher and sports journalist, and the concepts set forth by Hugo Aznar in Ética de la comunicación y nuevos retos sociales, I have defined several ethical guidelines for reporting on athletes from the Global South whose race, ethnicity, or nationality may influence unequal coverage of their athletic performance.

1. Journalists must avoid associating an athlete’s performance with the political, economic, and social problems of the country they represent. Such metonymic connections oversimplify these contexts and undermine the athlete’s achievements when competing internationally. If it is necessary to provide the audience with background on these issues, it is advisable to research and produce a separate journalistic piece that explains the origins of these conflicts, as well as the actions being taken to overcome them. In any case, coverage of the athlete’s performance should be balanced to avoid discrimination and stereotypes, regardless of race, national wealth, ethnic background, or nationality.

2. Journalists should highlight the physical, intellectual, tactical, and technical skills of athletes without creating categorizations based on their race, ethnic background, national wealth, or nationality.

3. Metaphors, similes, or double-entendre phrases that disparage athletes because of their race, ethnicity, national wealth, or nationality must not be used under the pretext of adding color or humor to commentary or reporting.

4. Media outlets in the Global South should conduct more thorough analyses of opponents from wealthier countries. Studying how they can be defeated in fair competition is more beneficial to athletes and teams from the Global South than diminishing their chances of victory through expressions that undervalue their qualities and overvalue those of athletes and teams from the North.

5. Media outlets in the Global South should innovate in their journalistic approaches when covering the victories of their athletes. Relying on the narrative of overcoming poverty, violence, or discrimination—while valid in some cases—does not always faithfully reflect an athlete’s motivations for excelling. It is necessary to emphasize other qualities such as tactical intelligence, technical ability, a winning mindset oriented toward achieving objectives, and physical power. The narrative should not perpetuate the notion that athletes from the North do not face the same economic, political, and social challenges often associated with less industrialized countries.

6. Contextualizing situations and places, cross-checking sources, questioning preconceived notions about other cultures, knowing how to ask questions, and dedicating time to research are all aspects that sports journalists must incorporate into their daily work. Viewing sports journalism primarily as a field for entertainment rather than information risks producing exoticized stories that undermine athletes’ identities. Journalists must resist the temptation to prioritize striking or sensational details over relevant, well-substantiated information, as otherwise, factual inaccuracies and unreflective labeling can lead to stereotyped portrayals of people and their origins. For this reason, sports journalism must promote the values of inclusion and multiculturalism to spread the message of non-discrimination.

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References

Cover photo credit: Image from Freepik.

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