Dr. Karen L. Hartman
Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and Persuasion at Idaho State University. Her research analyzes how language and public relations efforts frame athletes, institutions, and laws.
Email: karenhartman@isu.edu
Winning is everything, and not surprisingly, some will bend the rules. Take, for example, the Canadian women’s soccer team who, along with the men’s national team, were found guilty of using drones to routinely spy on opponents. Canada received a 6-point penalty, after losing their appeal, for spying on New Zealand’s practices before the opening games of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. According to Graham Dunbar of the Associated Press, the “drone-spying scandal threatens to spread beyond the Olympics, where Canada is the defending women’s champion, to the men’s team at the 2026 World Cup.”
The incident calls into question, again, how ethical violations impact athletics. And, let’s be clear, these violations happen with the top athletes and teams in the world – not just athletes scratching and clawing to win. Zinedine Zidane famously ended his international career with a red card in the 2006 World Cup final after headbutting an opponent. Tom Brady, one of the greatest National Football League players, was suspended in 2015 for under inflating footballs, making them easier to catch. Major League Baseball’s, Houston Astros, fought a long public relations battle after being found guilty of stealing signs from opponents in 2019. And in 2024, the Canadian women’s soccer team used drone footage to cheat. Cheating is part of sport, which begs the question – does cheating in sport matter?
No. At least, not really.
While these violations can turn into short term reputational crises for teams and athletes, sport is a unique realm where there is always the ability of the myth of sport to alleviate the pain of a transgression. Sport myths tend to revolve around sport as a character, moral, and teambuilding experience. For example, “sports build character” is a popular refrain, athletes are seen as role models, and the best athletes are spoken of as heroes. Even the Olympic Charter echoes how sport is a positive endeavor and promotes the myth: “Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for internationally recognized human rights and universal fundamental ethical principles within the remit of the Olympic Movement.”
The myth is communicated through mass media over and over again to build the power of the myth. From movies, to advertisements, to commentary, and to books, communication outlets help perpetuate the message, but one of the largest myth-producing sporting events is the Olympics. When casual and die-hard fans turn on the Olympics, they are met with repeated narratives of how sport changes lives for the better. And the mythical package producers, fans, and advertisers wrap the Olympics in makes it an almost impenetrable force to allow the reality of sport to puncture. Even when there are rips in the myth and athletes cheat, athletes and teams are able to move on as the power of the sport myth remains with its ability to shape attitudes.
Repeatedly, sports fans show that they are willing to move on. Zidane was featured in the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics to cheering fans. Brady is affectionately called the G.O.A.T., the Houston Astros were able to keep their 2017 World Series championship title, and the Canadian women’s soccer team made the quarterfinals despite the six point deduction. Media outlets pushed the heroic myth of the team coming back by using titles with words such as “team battles back,” “perseveres,” and how they are “still alive.”
Interestingly, while the Olympics and media outlets pushed the narrative of sport as a positive endeavor, Nike pushed back on this myth in an Olympics advertising campaign titled “Winning Isn’t for Everyone.” The campaign features LeBron James, Sha’Carri Richardson, Bebe Vio, and Serena Williams with actor William Dafoe saying: “Am I a bad person? Tell me. Am I? I’m single minded. I’m deceptive. I’m obsessive. I’m selfish. Does that make me a bad person? Am I a bad person? Am I? I have no empathy. I don’t respect you. I’m never satisfied. I have an obsession with power. I’m irrational. I have zero remorse. I have no sense of compassion. I’m delusional. I’m maniacal. Do you think I’m a bad person? Tell me. […]” The campaign was met with mixed reviews with some praising it as inspirational and some criticizing its hostility to good sportsmanship.
The ad campaign pushes back on the myth of sport building moral character and exposes sport and athletes for often who they are – people with extraordinary physical attributes that push themselves to immoral and impolite ends to win and who are often, yes, bad people. But the power of the myth is so strong and with events such as commentary, movies, books, and the Olympic narrative machine pitching sport as a character building experience, the myth will continue to have power. The Nike ad is one moment where sport is called out for what it is and the uncomfortable reception is due to its contradiction of the myth. While it remains to be seen what will happen with the Canadian women’s soccer team’s reputation in the long term, sports history suggests that fans will easily move past ethical violations to look for the next win that will uphold the myth of sport.
