The Olympics are approaching this summer and nationalism will have a heavy presence in the sports atmosphere. But why does this happen? I think it is because we view our national teams as representing national identity. For example, in America, our national attitude and identity is that we’re the best in the world, we’re No. 1, so we expect our athletes to be the best too. We also love a certain style of play from our athletes, or an “American Dream” type story behind our athletes that brings out a sense of nationalism. For example, American sports fans and media tend to fall in love with the blue-collar, hard-working player. It’s why we love sports films such as Rudy, and it’s the kind of identity that the 1980 US Olympic hockey team took on that made the country fall in love with them.
Not only is this kind of nationalism seen in just our country, but in others as well. In the Sports and Media Handbook, Andrew Tudor notes in the 2002 World Cup, the Argentina-England matchup, the media analysis criticized the style of play through nationalistic beliefs. Tudor writes:
“In the wake of defeat there was an ‘attempted rearticulation of Englishness; in the British press, revolving around a villain/hero contrast established between two players (Beckham and Owen) in which the latter was represented as incarnating the proper values of the English style. Meanwhile the Argentinean media continued to sustain the central mythology of the Argentinean style in a discourse where ‘the dominant tone was a combination of overflowing chauvinism and exalted emotion framed by the national flag as a dominant symbol.’ Embedded in these typifications, of course, are the familiar and longstanding Latin and Northern European stereotypes—unpredictable and temperamental creativity versus commitment and hard work” (226).
This brings me to the question, do Americans view and expect their athletes to play a certain way (a stereotypical American athlete)? And do American fans expect to win and be the best because we have a national identity of being the best in the world? It’ll be interesting to see what the headlines will be during the Olympics. But I get the feeling it’ll consist of high expectations and falling in love with the gutty, gritty, blue-collar athlete.
