Dr. Vincent Peña
Assistant Professor in sports communication and journalism at the College of Communication at DePaul University. His research lies at the intersection of journalism, identity, culture, and politics, with a focus on representation and discourse in sports media. His work has been published in Communication & Sport, Sociology of Sport Journal, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, and many others.
Email: vpena4@depaul.edu
Twitter: @vincentpena7
Team USA is meant to represent the best athletes the United States has to offer. It promises to be “the world’s largest and most diverse team of athletes from across the United States.” And to be fair, the team is diverse — gender diversity is at an all-time high! — but the team does not necessarily resemble the country it represents. Specifically, Latino athletes were overwhelmingly underrepresented at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The underrepresentation of Latino athletes in the Olympics, particularly within the U.S., points to a broader issue of systemic barriers that have stifled progress for Latino athletes for decades. Historically, Latino athletes have faced stereotypes and discrimination that have limited their opportunities and access to sports. This historical context underscores the importance of examining the pipelines that exist—or fail to exist—for Latino athletes in Olympic sports.
While Latinos have historically been underrepresented in sports at the highest levels, this current trend points to several broader issues, ranging from the cultural to the economic. Low Latino representation results in a lack of visibility and role models for Latino youth; limits access and opportunities; diminishes a sense of community; impacts economic earning potential and upward mobility; and can directly skew one’s sense of self and national identity. Importantly, the lack of Latino representation in the Olympics underscores broader issues of social justice and inclusion, highlighting the need for systemic changes to address discrimination, stereotypes, and barriers that prevent Latino athletes from reaching their full potential on the Olympic stage.
As the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics approach, the spotlight will inevitably turn to the city’s large Hispanic population and its cultural importance to the area. Los Angeles has a Latino population nearing 5 million, good for 49%. For the 2024 Paris Games, 20% of Team USA hailed from California. So, no matter how you look at it, Latinos are disproportionately absent. By my own count, no more than a dozen of the 594 athletes who competed in the Paris Games are Latino, good for just 2 percent of athletes.
The scarcity of Latino athletes can be attributed to myriad factors, including limited resources, lack of opportunities, access issues, immigrant status, and enduring stereotypes about their athletic ability. These obstacles are not merely about individual athletes; they reflect a structural issue where Latino athletes have historically been marginalized within the sports world. The lack of access for Latinos extends to youth sports, especially for Latina girls, who are negatively impacted by both a lack of resources and cultural expectations and messages. These expectations can be shaped by representation, or in this case, a lack of representation, of Latino athletes at the highest level.
Media coverage also reflects this lack of representation. The few Latino athletes who do make it to the Olympics often receive minimal attention compared to their counterparts. In many articles highlighting “Americans to watch,” few if any included Latino athletes, even the famous ones. This is despite many of these Latino athletes having interesting stories to tell beyond their Latino identity, such as those representing a new Olympic sport (Victor Montalvo), the youngest athlete for Team USA (Hezly Rivera), a six-time Olympian (Diana Taurasi), and many others. Some other coverage just grouped all Latinos to highlight their achievements as a group. Importantly, though, even many of these are on sites catering to a Latino audience.
Latino athletes on Team USA must navigate a space where they are practically nonexistent, their American-ness needing to be qualified by their Hispanic heritage to be recognized, but only as a homogenous group, not as individuals. This paradoxical situation results in the de facto symbolic annihilation of Latino Olympians, which furthers a long history of their marginalization in U.S. team sports. Additionally, in a country where many Latinos’ identity straddles geographical, linguistic, and cultural borders, their relative absence can render them outsiders, as the “other.”
To be sure, there was some good coverage, however rare it was. For ESPN, Roberto José Andrade Franco wrote about U.S. boxer Jennifer Lozano, highlighting her journey as an amateur boxer to her Olympic berth. The Laredo-born fighter competed in her first Olympics in Paris, bowing out in the round of 16. While Franco’s article provides a nuanced portrayal of Lozano and the importance of her Mexican-American heritage, other coverage tended to emphasize typical narratives about Latinos overcoming poverty and hardship, risking the perpetuation of Latino athlete stereotypes.
As we look toward the LA 2028 Olympics, the implications of this underrepresentation are significant. The lack of Latino athletes not only reflects broader societal inequities but also raises questions about the future of Olympic sports in a city and a country where the Latino population is proliferating. Research suggests that addressing these issues requires intentional efforts to dismantle the barriers that Latino athletes face, from youth sports through the pros. There were not many Latino athletes on Team USA in Paris, and without efforts to address these disparities, there might not be many in Los Angeles.
