ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the knowledge gap by exploring the discourses used by the Dutch sport media when broadcasting the 2012 London Paralympics. It examines representations and constructions of the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic athletes on Dutch TV, the commentary in the two daily Dutch television programmes covering the Paralympic Games has been analysed. The verbal commentary expressed by the play-by-play commentators, the presenter, the 'voice-over' and the interviewers was included in the analysis. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. It was obvious from the data that the emphasis in the Paralympic broadcasts was on the actual sport performance of Dutch athletes and on their individual athletic qualities. The chapter presents some of the contradictions and paradoxes and makes explicit the hidden assumptions that construct hierarchies among different bodies and between the Paralympics and the Olympics.
