Elon alumna Zora Stephenson ’15 got to spend her summer exploring the streets of Paris with her husband and witnessing history. As a reporter for NBC Sports, she got a front-row seat to moments such as Simone Biles’ All-Around gold medal win.
Stephenson was busy throughout the Paris Games where she was a sideline reporter for gymnastics on both the daytime and primetime broadcast, along with being the sideline reporter for the Knockout Stage of Olympic basketball. She also hosted a daily podcast called The Podium, which she recorded in her hotel room every day.
Stephenson had a nonstop schedule during the Olympics as a result of juggling a podcast, researching and preparing for her reporting assignments, finding time to work out and spending her days and nights at the various Olympic arenas covering high profile events.
After working as a remote social media host in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Paris Games was the first on-site Olympics that Stephenson worked at. She said it was an incredible experience.
“The Olympics are just magical,” Stephenson said. “It's one of those things you have to experience it to understand, but for a few weeks, it's like the whole world comes down and celebrates one another and cheers for one another and has pride for where they're from. There's so many things that go on in the world that divide us, but the Olympics brings us together.”
Stephenson saw some incredible moments for the U.S. while reporting at the Olympics. She witnessed the women's gymnastics team winning gold, the men's gymnastics team winning bronze and both gold medal games for basketball. She also interviewed players like Lebron James after the men’s basketball semifinal, where Team USA was down by 17 points to Serbia and came back to win in a last second thriller.
Stephenson said her favorite part of working the Olympics was being able to see greatness up close.
“You can’t help but be inspired by these humans and their stories, and hopefully you tell their journeys in the best way possible,” Stephenson said.
Caroline Brehman ’18 also spent her summer in Paris covering the Olympics. Brehman photographed various events for EPA Images.
Brehman said her schedule depended on the day, some days working over 12 hours and then other days for four or five.
“I had some really early mornings and some really late nights so everyday was different,” Brehman said.
Brehman said the hectic and unpredictable schedule is very tiring.
“It's a lot of fun, but it's also exhausting,” Brehman said. “I have very supportive friends and family who are curious about what it's like, and I haven't had a lot of time to talk with them and catch up.”
Brehman said her favorite event to photograph was gymnastics because it’s such a visual sport and because it was cool to see Simone Biles up close.
Brehman said she would love to photograph another Olympics.
“I'm sad it’s almost over,” Brehman said. “It kind of feels like you're away at summer camp in a way. You're seeing all these different people and all you're focusing on is this and I don't want to have to go back and deal with everything else I've left behind. So I would definitely love to shoot another Olympics.”
Another alumna who represented Elon at the Summer Olympics was Ellie Whittington ’18. Whittington wasn’t in Paris, however, but working in Stamford, Connecticut, at NBC Sports headquarters and helped create content in-studio and running various social media accounts.
Whittington had an intense schedule, working a 13-hour shift from noon to 1 a.m. During her shift, she covered various events live as they happened and created different content for social media to make the American viewer want to watch NBC’s Primetime show.
Even though this is her third time working the Olympics, Whittington still is amazed by the spectacle of the Games.
“What makes it so cool is that everyone's eyes are on the Olympic Games, and it's the one time that we as Americans can come together and cheer on fellow Americans as they compete against the world,” Whittington said. “I really love that aspect, and I just take it as its way for me to promote these athletes that have worked their whole lives to be on this sort of stage.”
Whittington said it’s really cool to see the social media content she made go live on the internet.
“When I'm scrolling on my own personal social media, I'll see friends that have shared this really cool moment or this graphic they really liked from a certain sport, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh, I made that,’” Whittington said.
Some of the content she made for social media were explanatory videos, explaining the ins and outs of obscure Olympic sports. She said it was awesome getting to learn these sports she didn’t know beforehand.
Whittington said she enjoyed seeing certain Olympians like gymnast Steven Nedoroscik break out and go viral, and she loved being able to make content out of those athletes.
“We're still media, we're still storytelling, we're still journalists, and so it was cool because my team was like ‘Oh my gosh, this guy's gonna be a sensation,”’ Whittington said. “How can we make memes out of him? How can we make funny things? How can we make good content? How can we promote him?”
Whittington, who said that she saw many Elon alumni and professors work at the Olympics this year, believes Elon helped her believe in herself and get to the point where she could work at such high profile events like the Olympics.
“They give us the professors. give us these tools of how to interview, how to talk to people, how to work in an environment like NBC,” Whittingon said. “I really believe that Elon is in the top echelon of how to be a professional.”