Rio 2016 Olympic Games and imaterial legacy

Abstract

The present study investigates how the reports of a printed newspaper published historical material on the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and produced cultural representations of immaterial legacy. In order to do so, we analyzed journalistic reports published by the newspaper O Tempo, during the occurrence of Rio 2016, in which the following categories were highlighted: a) History of the Olympic Games, b) History of Olympic modalities, and c) Life histories of athletes. The Rio de Janeiro JO in 2016 was constituted as a mega-sport event, so after its realization, there were still socio-spatial stays in the urban scenario, which may be material and immaterial. The immaterial legacy is immeasurable, for it is not possible to determine how and how much is established, especially when one thinks of culture. However, it is possible to glimpse possibilities, among them those involving sports memory and cultural identities related to the event of the OJ. The sources revealed that the media produced new memories about Rio 2016, so it was used historical narratives, generating an immaterial legacy, because it is related to the daily communication of groups of people that have a unity and peculiarity through a common image from past. The reports were means of legitimizing the facts of the past, linked to building a positive identity.