Elon University alumni share their experiences helping to cover the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
As the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris unfolded on television screens, newspapers, and cell phones in August, several Elon University alumni were translating the Olympic action to viewers across the country and the world.
The 2024 Olympic Games were the first for Emmanuel Morgan ’19, a sports and pop culture writer for The New York Times. But since graduating from Elon with a degree in journalism, Morgan has had plenty of experience – starting with a role at The Los Angeles Times covering business and news. In 2021, he made a transition to The New York Times, where he has been able to explore his passion for sports, including covering several Super Bowls.
“My experience covering Super Bowls the past four years was the biggest guide in helping me cover the Olympics,” said Morgan. “It gave me a sense of how to pace myself with a day-to-day rhythm. But an Olympics is such a different operation that nothing can truly prepare you for it, and I learned how to manage it on the fly.”
Intersection of sports and entertainment
Morgan’s work has garnered national acclaim, including receiving the 2023 Salute to Excellence Award in national sports from the National Association of Black Journalists for his story on the role hair plays for Black N.F.L. players. While covering the Olympics, Morgan had the opportunity to cover a variety of sports and cultural content.
“I was asked to help cover the Games in November. Since then, I tried to look for stories that aligned with my beat at the intersection of sports and entertainment,” said Morgan. “I went in with features planned on Snoop Dogg’s role with NBC, Jake Paul’s involvement with USA Boxing and Netflix’s content slate of Olympic sports documentaries. While I was there, I tracked down Flavor Flav for his partnership with U.S. Water Polo, and I was a key contributor for helping cover the controversy involving Imane Khelif, which sprung up almost immediately after the Games started.”
At Elon, Morgan was involved with Elon News Network, where he was a reporter, section editor, managing editor and then executive director. While Morgan said covering something like the Olympics is in a lane of its own, his Elon education did help prepare him for his career.
“It gave me practical experience and helped build my portfolio to get the positions I’ve had and prepared me for what I do every day,” said Morgan in an interview with Today at Elon in 2023. “The hundreds of stories I wrote in college laid the foundation for my writing style, helped me find the types of stories I like to report, allowed me to make mistakes in a controlled setting and gave me a better understanding of the editing process.”
Capturing the action
As Morgan was writing the story of the Olympics, Caroline Brehman ’18 was capturing it visually as a photographer with EPA Images, an international wire photography service.
Brehman earned a degree in communication design from Elon and has covered several high-profile events, including Super Bowl LVII in 2023 and the 65th Grammy Awards, but never an Olympic Games.
“It was incredible, it was a dream assignment,” said Brehman of covering the Olympics. “What’s great about working for one of the small news wires is we don’t have enough people to just stick one person on one sport the whole time. So, I got to see a lot of different things and get a real taste for how things went.”
Brehman photographed seven different sports over the weeks she spent covering the Games, including water polo, diving, archery, table tennis, basketball and dressage. But her all-time favorite to photograph was gymnastics.
“It’s super visual,” she said. “Seeing Simone Biles, I’ve seen her on TV, but seeing her in person, you’re just blown away by the athleticism of these people.”
Capturing the big moment in any sport can be a challenge – one that is both stressful and exciting for Brehman. Outlets such as the Associated Press and Reuters are part of the photography pool, granting them more access, Brehman had to get creative for EPA Images.
“There are so many photographers, you can’t move around,” she said of trying to photograph gymnastics. “You have to pick a spot and hope the action comes your way. Thankfully, I worked with another photographer at my company, so it’s a lot of pre-planning and just hoping things work out.”
Another challenge for an Olympic photographer – aside from capturing the action in fast-paced sports – is understanding the rules of the competition to photograph the right moment. Brehman experienced that firsthand when covering dressage, an equestrian sport where horses perform precise movements with signals from their rider.
“I look online to see what EPA Images shot in the past and what’s expected,” said Brehman. “I tend to ask a lot of questions. With something like dressage, they were telling me the photo to get in the horse world is where the horse’s back legs are crossed, and their two front legs are sprawled out. I would have never known that. It’s just these very niche things that you have to familiarize yourself with, which is cool.”
The dressage event was held on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles, which gave Brehman one of her few opportunities to do some personal photography. She previously visited Paris on a small trip while she was studying abroad in London at Elon.
“Even if you have free time, you’re just exhausted, but the dressage course wasn’t right where the palace is,” said Brehman. “I took a wrong turn and ended up having to take a shuttle to the palace. I didn’t stay super long; I had all of my photo equipment, and there were a ton of people there, but I’m glad I did it.”
Before EPA Images, Brehman worked at a variety of publications, including Roll Call, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Martha’s Vineyard Times and the Burlington Times-News. While at Elon, she also served as a photo editor for The Pendulum and The Edge magazine.
“What’s great about Elon, especially the communication school, is they encourage you to get hands-on experience and put yourself out there,” said Brehman. “With the Olympics, I was photographing a lot of things I’ve never photographed before and, over time, just putting yourself out there and being okay with being uncomfortable helps. I learned a lot at Elon.”
Olympic operations
Fresh off the graduation stage with a bachelor of fine arts in acting, Brett Turnbull ’24 worked for NBC Sports as an operations runner during the Olympic Games. The role included helping to set up the NBC studios in Paris, escorting talent and athletes, along with making sure everything was running smoothly.
“I got to work daily on The Today Show with that cast of characters, specifically Craig Melvin, and they were the kindest people,” said Turnbull of his favorite part on the job. “They were experiences that I will never forget, and hopefully, I’ll get to jump on to the Italy games next.”
Turnbull has always had an interest in sports – starting at Elon as a Sports Vision Scholar in the School of Communications. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he decided to rethink his academic journey and pursue another passion: acting.
“I got the bug to get back into acting, especially since Elon’s program is highly regarded nationwide,” said Turnbull. “I decided I would be wrong if I never took the shot and took the opportunity. It was the best decision I ever made.”
Acting continues to be his passion, and he hopes to move his way up the ranks in the television and film industry. Working for NBC, Turnbull did get some Hollywood interactions, including meeting celebrity chef Ina Garten and almost taking Snoop Dogg’s seat during a swimming event.
“I read my ticket wrong, and I had my NBC tag on me, and a director came up and asked if I worked for NBC, and I said, ‘Yes, I have a ticket,’ and he said, “This isn’t your seat,’ and five minutes later Snoop comes walking up the staircase.”
While his acting degree didn’t directly translate to his position at NBC Sports, the work ethic instilled in him through the performing arts program and some time with ENN made a difference.
“It helps me in terms of employers when they say, ‘Wow, you’re not a communications major, but you’re stepping out of your way to learn and be able to gain all of that knowledge.’”