Ten thousand athletes are competing in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Four times that many – more than 40,000 people – are serving as journalists, producers, editors, reporters, photographers, videographers, writers, researchers, audio and lighting technicians, video archivists, animators, and coders. Like the athletes, they, too, are at the top of their game.
During the 2016 spring semester, 19 juniors and seniors at Queens University of Charlotte studied and prepared to join the ranks of these Olympic storytellers. They are in Rio de Janeiro for two weeks, between Aug. 5 and 21. More than a year ago they competed in a rigorous selection process to join the team, made possible by the John Belk International Program. The program enables almost 80 percent of Queens undergraduates to study abroad, with most expenses covered in standard tuition and fees.
Students examined the Olympic movement, its history, goals, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. They pored over details of sports federations and national committees. They confronted the intricacies of the
Olympic Charter and an arcane section called
“Rule 40,” including its impact on the way athletes tell their
own stories. They studied broadcasting contracts, the
city bidding process, sponsorship revenues, and decades of technological developments in media coverage of the Games.
Beyond Olympic study, the students continued their work in the creation of digital media, developing skills in videography, still photography, reporting, writing, interviewing, and editing. The stories and photography of this site are the result of their practice and preparation for Rio.
Top photo: Students from Queens University of Charlotte at Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Photo below: Jamie Doolittle, Tyler Greene, and Becca Chen of the JBT Production team write copy and edit video in their Rio hostel for a multimedia story on Sugarloaf Mountain.