From the nursery floor to the women’s four: feminist narrative inquiry of an older rowing mother’s second Olympic comeback in sport media stories

Media studies of older Olympic athlete mothers (i.e. 30+ years, multiple Games appearances) show that their post-partum returns to sport are often portrayed as exceptional and/or symbolic of progress. Researchers have problematised how media narratives reproduce tensions concerning ageism, inequality, and good motherhood for these athlete mothers. This study builds on these findings by examining how the British sport media context portrayed British rower Helen Glover’s second Olympic comeback as a mother at age 38, to the Paris 2024 Games. Feminist narrative inquiry was used to theorise media stories contextualised by narratives shaping content and meanings of her comeback journey. A thematic narrative analysis of 59 stories contextualised by 93 images identified a narrative theme of ‘challenging the status quo’ shaped by two storylines threading media: ‘Glover as disruptor and changemaker’ and ‘personal growth and change’. These storylines upheld neoliberal feminist values that centre individual responsibility and resilience for post-partum comebacks, while overlooking structural support for athlete mothers’ career longevity. Our narrative analysis shows how media stories resist and reproduce gendered, ageist and intensive mothering ideologies, along with empowerment and celebration of one athlete mother’s return. These findings illustrate how socially constructed motherhood is changing in media stories via narratives shaping them, while upholding a neoliberal status quo.