The dwindling Winter Olympic divide between male and female athletes: the NBC broadcast network’s primetime coverage of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games

All 63 h of the National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC) scheduled primetime coverage of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic broadcast were analyzed revealing significant sex-based trends. Women athletes received 47.7% of the clock-time on the broadcast, more than in any other Winter Olympiad examined, and significantly more than in the previous four Winter Olympic Games. Women received 41.7% of the mentions in the broadcast and comprised 45% of the top-20 most mentioned athletes. Sex-based divergences in dialogues surrounding attributions of success were found, but none were detected for attributions of failure. Sex-based differences were also found in descriptions of personality/physicality. Contextualization is offered related to other intervening factors such as US medal successes by sex, celebrity and salient storylines surrounding American athletes.