Biggest Olympics Takeaways from Journalism Students and Alumni

After the Olympics and Paralympic Games wrapped up, Journalism NOW spoke with J-school students and alumni who covered the events, working in front of the camera and behind-the-scenes.

Here’s what they had to say about their experiences, advice for students and what it meant to cover one of the largest sporting events in the world.

These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
 

Tara De Boer MJ ‘23, sports reporter and producer at CBC Sports, worked on CBC’s Olympics Today show with host Ariel Helwani.

She was part of a group of producers and editors responsible for putting together the show with their host reporting from Livigno, Italy. The Toronto team produced a 30-minute episode that aired each evening of the Olympics across multiple platforms.

“We were up against the clock every day, making each day fast-paced and super busy,” she said.

Looking back on her time as a Master of Journalism student, she said that producing major creative projects taught her how to exercise creative judgment and collaborate with team members to publish her best work.

She added, “These assignments prepared me well for the scope and level of work required for major projects.”

“I would not be where I am today without the professors I worked closely with at TMU…who shared their knowledge with me and supported me in chasing my dreams.”
 

Mariam Kourabi (external link) , a final-year MJ student, worked the Olympic and Paralympic Milano Cortina Winter Games as an associate producer at CBC.

She also contributed stories about the Paralympic Games for The Globe and Mail. Her work touched on i (google doc) nspiring athletes (external link) , highlighting barriers (external link)  and amplifying the goals of the  (google doc) Paralympic movement (external link) .

Kourabi’s day at CBC would start at eight a.m. with an editorial meeting to review the agenda and athletes to look out for, then she and her team would vet the final script for the first video being filmed that day.

While the host would film the first video, Kourabi would start researching the second video and begin pitching ideas based on headlines and international stories coming out.

“[It’s] a lot of research, put the script in a way where it's engaging, doesn't feel like a heavy dump of information, and that process can take a while if it's a very tricky story,” she explained.

By the time the second video script of the day has been vetted, the first filmed video would have been approved, and Kourabi would start making thumbnails, uploading to the website and across socials.

The second chunk of her shift would usually be finalizing the second video and starting the script for the next morning.

Then it would all repeat.

Kourabi was able to put the skills she learned in On The Record (OTR) to use while producing Olympic coverage.

One of the main skills she gained was working under pressure, which she learned when completing back-to-back web and broadcast stories.

“You have to work under pressure and meet those deadlines, even when you’re completely exhausted, there’s a package you need to edit or a source you need to interview,” she said. “I was so glad I [went] through On The Record in the fall semester.”

Her time in OTR also taught her how to work with new people, different work styles and figure out how to produce the best work possible with anyone.

“You get to meet so many different and new people at CBC. The [group] I was in, I had never worked with either of the girls who were with me. It teaches you how to navigate working with different personalities and different characters.”

Many of the CBC Olympic crew were TMU grads. Kourabi said how nice it was to see everyone around the newsroom and know they all had a TMU connection.

“It's like such a sense of belonging, and you're so happy for each other, that you've all found yourself here in a newsroom working on the Olympics.”
 

Zoha Naghar (external link)  ‘25 worked the Olympics beat as a social producer with CBC Sports. She supported social media coverage and digital storytelling for the Games.

A typical day for Naghar during the Games would start around one p.m., connecting with the morning social producer for a handover on what had happened earlier in the day and what was expected to come next.

From there, she helped monitor competitions and identify big moments, “especially medal opportunities for Canadian athletes.”

“When those moments happened, my role was to make sure our medal graphics were posted as quickly as possible and to coordinate with our video editors to publish ‘medal moment’ highlight clips across our platforms,” she explained.

Naghar’s evenings were busy with social coverage, promotion for CBC’s Olympic shows and searching for engaging athlete content to share with fans, despite most events having already taken place earlier in the day with the time difference.

“I’d usually work until around midnight, helping ensure our platforms were consistently delivering timely, engaging coverage for audiences following the Games.”

She also worked the Paralympics this year.

Her role expanded more towards the editorial side, while still supporting with social production. She worked closely with the digital studio host, Allison Lang, producing explainer videos about the Paralympics for CBC’s digital platforms.

During the Paralympics, her day started around noon with a morning editorial meeting to plan the day’s coverage. After, she would write scripts, monitor competitions, post incoming content from the team, film segments with Lang and help produce additional content with athletes and talent throughout the day.

“It’s been an incredible opportunity to contribute across both social and digital production during such a major global event,” she said.

Looking back on her time at TMU, Naghar said the program built a solid foundation of skills through hands-on learning in studios, control rooms and going out in the field producing content.

“Those broadcast courses forced us to learn industry tools like Adobe and get comfortable working under tight deadlines, which made a huge difference once I entered the workforce,” she said. “I felt confident in my skill set and prepared for the pace of a real newsroom environment.”

The foundation made the transition from the classroom to working in a professional sports media environment feel much more natural.

Mercedes Gaztambide (external link)  ‘23, reporter at CBC News Toronto, worked as a producer for CBC’s content production unit and was based in Livigno, Italy, for the Games.

Every day, she would execute in-game content featuring a dedicated host, athlete or both for social, digital and broadcast.

She spent a lot of time prepping content concepts, writing scripts and making game plans for production before the games started. Once she was in Italy, she was able to put all her hard work into action.

“Every day, I produced a daily trivia show airing nightly in Toronto…every few days, I organized ‘behind-the-scenes’ videos in-games, showing the audience elements like race timing/photo finishing technology, POV style walkthroughs of venues like the halfpipe and big air apparatuses, and the experience of visiting alpine venues as a ticket-holder,” she explained.

Towards the end of the Games, she would execute interviews with up to three or four athletes a day and then send them back to headquarters for editing and sharing.

“I spent a lot of time on ski lifts getting to and from an interview spot on top of a mountain! Truthfully, each day was different, and that's what I love about the Olympics. It's never boring.”

Gaztambide said that story day in J-school was the best preparation the program could’ve given her for working the Olympics.

“Every day at the Olympics feels something like getting shot out of a cannon, unsure where you'll land. Having resolve, patience, and the willingness to pivot and say ‘yes’ to every shift in the plan is a skill that was definitely seeded in my first year of J-school.”

She added, “The push to approach all different topics and niches within journalism was an important skill, given that I'm not a year-round sports reporter or producer, the encouragement to dig into each genre with openness, curiosity and confidence was an important lesson.”

Amanda McGee (external link)  ‘24, associate producer for Hanomansing Tonight, worked as an associate producer under CBC’s Olympic presentation team.

“I worked closely with Donnovan Bennett and helped produce his daily feature segments that would air on CBC’s primetime broadcast and partner broadcasts like TSN and Sportsnet, the following day,” she said.

McGee helped identify unique and timely storytelling angles within Olympic coverage and pulled archival real-time clips from the Olympic Winter Games for the segments.

She was involved in, “everything from the technical setup of the studio where we’d record the script and on-camera pieces daily to supply our team’s editor with visuals to piece everything together.”

Additionally, she supported a separate Olympic presentation team with the production of opens and teases for CBC’s primetime broadcast.

Her time at TMU played a key role in preparing McGee to support coverage of a large-scale event, like the Olympics.

“The Journalism program helped me develop an editorial mindset to think critically about storytelling and recognize how visual elements work together to build a narrative,” she said. “Those skills were particularly valuable when pulling footage and helping shape the visual flow of the features for broadcast.”

The program also helped prepare her for the fast-paced newsroom environment, and taught her how to collaborate with producers, editors and reporters while working under tight deadlines.

“We prioritized having the most timely information while also ensuring our features could stay relevant and live on past the Games,” she said.

“There was one day we had to scrap an idea entirely to pivot our focus on the breaking news of Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych being banned from competition for wearing a helmet featuring images of Ukrainian athletes killed during the war.”

Christina Flores-Chan (external link)  ‘23 supported the Olympic Games through her role as a communications and events coordinator for the Canadian Olympic Foundation (COF), the philanthropic arm of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC).

She began her career with the COC as a communications intern in 2023 before progressing into her current position.

During the Games, her days often started early to align with competition times in Italy, where she drafted medal announcements whenever a COF-supported Team Canada athlete won.

Aside from the Games, Flores-Chan’s role involves drafting communications and supporting events for Team Canada donors, while also assisting the broader organization as needed.

Lauren Croth (external link) , a third-year Journalism student, supported coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as an associate producer for social media with CBC Sports.

“I helped manage and create content for the CBC Sports and CBC Olympics accounts,” she said. “My work included graphic design, vertical video editing, and pitching creative ideas that I was able to bring to life.”

Her work day began as early as 6 a.m., aligning with major events unfolding in Italy.

“I would begin by checking in with my producer, Sophie Baron, and then move into tracking live events. If an athlete was in medal contention, I would prepare graphics in advance so we could publish updates instantly when results were confirmed,” Croth explained.

Croth said her experience at TMU’s Journalism program, along with her role as a digital content assistant with TMU Bold Athletics, helped her prepare for the fast-paced environment.

“Both experiences helped me develop the ability to work under tight deadlines, refine my creative thinking, and grow as a storyteller, she said. “I’ve always been drawn to multimedia storytelling, and the program allowed me to develop those skills.”

Paul Murphy ‘10, supported the Olympic Games coverage as a producer of sponsored partnerships with CBC Sports, assigned specifically to Olympic coverage.

Murphy’s involvement in the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics didn’t start this year. It began in the fall of 2024 following the conclusion of the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

“We began to plan what high-impact social and digital content we would capture with Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes and partner with major brands to share on CBC channels throughout the Games — from longform docu-series to the shortest YouTube...Short on @CBCSports' channel,” he said.

During the Games, Murphy’s days were split between monitoring thousands of pieces of content across CBC’s digital channels, analyzing performance data to ensure they met audience targets and live-interfacing with the CBC Sports content capture team in Italy to ensure content capture strategies were being updated based on performance data.

“Milano Cortina 2026 was only 17 days, but it took an incredible effort from my team of producers, editors, journalists, content creators, and project managers for months before it began to make it possible to tell the stories of these incredible athletes through 2,000+ social posts and digital features,” he explained.

Looking back, Murphy credits TMU’s Journalism program for helping him prepare for “an ever-evolving career” in sport broadcasting, live event production, and storytelling.

“I'll always be thankful for my time at TMU that instilled in me a sense of urgency, poise, and preparation in telling the best story possible, no matter the medium,” he said.

Julia Pen, a third-year Journalism student, interned at the COC during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games as a communications intern.

“I pretty much hit the ground running in my first week. We were exactly a month away from the Games, and I had to learn all the processes before my team left,” she said.

In this role, she supported media relations, press operations, and various communications initiatives such as partnership press releases, media monitoring and flash quotes.

“My favourite tasks during the Games were to edit flash quotes for on-site media as well as help draft and push out press releases,” Pen said.

In addition, she supported on-site at FanFest, helping the digital team create content and build fan momentum for the Games.

“Seeing the turnout from fans who came out to celebrate, even in the cold, was honestly incredible. There was so much energy and pride in the space. Being part of that in any capacity was really exciting,” she said.

According to Pen, her time at TMU helped build confidence to navigate the fast-paced environment of the Games.

“The program really helped me hone my writing skills and become adaptable in my writing, whether that was an article or a press release. It also trained me to work under tight deadlines, which helped me meet my deliverables in this role,” she said.