Broadcasters covering Paris Olympics criticized for sexist remarks during broadcast and interviews

Lim Si-hyun, poses at the awards ceremony after winning the gold medal in the women\'s archery individual event at the Paris Olympics on August 3. The Paris Olympics

Broadcasters covering this year’s Paris Olympics have been criticized by viewers for their sexist remarks during broadcasts and interviews.

On August 3, Korean women's archery ace Lim Si-hyeon won the gold medal in the women's archery individual event at the Paris Olympics at Invalides in Paris, France. It was her third gold medal of the Games after the women's team event and the mixed team event.

The scene in question was on SBS's "Chatterview,” which aired on July 27, the day after the opening of the Olympics. It was an interview that took place in a comfortable atmosphere as if talking. As she talked about her preparations for the Games, the interviewer told her that she had a mark created by a bow on her chin. The scar was made when she shot the bow as it touched her chin under the lip. When Lim replied, "Now I became insensitive about the scar. It's already colored," the reporter asked, "Do you have any plans to have a treatment?” He asked if she had any plans to get rid of the scar through laser treatment.

Criticism grew as the interview was belatedly known. Viewers pointed out that the question was inappropriate because it assumed that appearance is important for female athletes. While male wrestlers' "dumpling ears" are considered a wound of glory, asking only a female athlete about her plan to erase the wound is a clear discrimination.

SBS was also criticized for an inappropriate YouTube thumbnail. On August 3, SBS' "SBS Sports" channel uploaded a highlight video of the Korean women's individual archery final between Lim Si-hyeon and Nam Soo-hyun and put a thumbnail title, “Lim saying, are you watching, An San?” This means that Lim beat An, a winner of three gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a former national team player. It was pointed out that the arbitrary setting of the confrontation structure with An, who did not even participate in this year’s competition, reflected the old frame of "a woman's enemy is a woman." SBS eventually changed the title to “Lim Si-hyeon wins three gold medals.”

An inappropriate expression was also made during the broadcast of a game, which was the round of 32 in the women’s individual archery competition held on August 2. When two bees flew into the face of Im, who was competing with Reza Otsutavia of Indonesia, KBS commentator Ki Bo-bae said, "Why do bees gather around Korean players?" and added, "(The bees) recognize flowers." She compares a player to a flower, which is a sexist expression in that it is based on appearance evaluation, not competence as a player.

Calls for a “gender-equal Olympics” have been going on for years. In the lead-up to the Paris Olympics, the Gender Equality Committee of the National Union of Media Workers released guidelines for reporting on a “gender-equal Olympics.” The guidelines include not preparing questions that would not be asked of a male athlete, and not portraying female athletes in a physical way or making comments about their appearance.

The Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS), the main broadcaster of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has also issued official instructions to its film crews in Paris to film female athletes in the same way as male athletes. The purpose is to ensure that sexist views, such as highlighting female athletes' body parts, are not included in the broadcast.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.