Fourth-year mass communications student Ali Tunney spent the afternoon and night of July 26 in Paris. But she wasn't there vacationing with family or friends to cap off the summer before her senior year of college: she was working behind the scenes to help orchestrate NBC's broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Tunney spent most of that day in the Trocadéro area of Paris, which is where NBC's broadcasting tower and live sets were located throughout the Games. Her tasks included finding products for the makeup team, setting up wardrobes and even holding umbrellas for Peyton Manning, Kelly Clarkson and NBC sports commentator Mike Tirico as they reported live while it rained in the city.
After helping finish preparations for the opening ceremony, she and her coworkers took in the event from the Café del'Homme, a restaurant that overlooked the Seine River, where athletes from around the globe floated by on boats.
"We were all eating dinner, and you just turn your head to look out the window, and the Eiffel Tower is right there with the opening ceremony going on," Tunney said.
Tunney and an additional three USC students spent the duration of the Olympic Games, which lasted from July 26 to Aug. 11, working as interns for NBC, the organization that owns broadcasting rights for the Olympics in the U.S.
The experience provided these students with an opportunity to learn more about working in the sports industry and new skills they hope to apply to future internships and jobs, they said.
Lifelong dreams
For all four interns, working at the Olympics over the summer was not their first interaction with the Games.
Fourth-year broadcast journalism student Lauren Ciuci has always been a fan of the Olympics. Growing up, she would watch American gymnast Gabby Douglas and skier Lindsey Vonn, who Ciuci developed a unique affinity for.
“I would ski a lot when I was younger, so watching her in the Olympics was always fun to do,” Ciuci said. “I just remember in elementary school and middle school, if there was a project, and we had to pick someone that we thought was inspirational, I would always pick Lindsey Vonn for her outspokenness and confidence.”
Third-year hospitality management student Trevor Lazarus said he similarly watched the Olympics with his parents when he was younger, but his ties to the Games run deep in his family. Lazarus' father started working in sales for NBC after graduating from college.
"Both my parents sort of work in sports by association. My dad has worked on Olympics in the past," Lazarus said. "So when this opportunity came around, it was sort of like a, 'I'm going to do it.'"
Fourth-year sport and entertainment management student Olivia Donofrio also developed connections to the Olympics through her parents.
Donofrio said she also had a connection to NBC through her father, who was employed by the organization for about 13 years.
Each student underwent a series of applications and interviews before learning they were selected to work for NBC. Even though each of their specific recruitment processes was different, the confirmation phone call or email they received was immediately met with emotion.
Donofrio said she was working at Columbia restaurant Market on Main when she received a call from a phone number with a New York area code. After asking her boss if she could briefly step aside to answer the call, she learned she was selected for one of NBC's internship positions.
Fourth-year sport and entertainment management student Olivia Donofrio (left), is pictured with a fellow intern during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Donofrio worked as a hospitality guide as part of NBC Sports' corporate events team.
"I actually just totally screamed on the phone. It was the most incredible feeling," Donofrio said. "I felt so accomplished, and I was so proud of myself that I was able to do it because I know there were hundreds of people that applied, and only 50 were selected. I was incredibly grateful because, in the end, it was an incredible opportunity — a once-in-a-lifetime thing, honestly."
Tunney said her internship acceptance came as an early Christmas present. She said she received a call from an NBC Sports recruiter on Dec. 23 while she was applying for other internships.
“(The recruiter) finally was like, ‘We’d love to offer you a position in Paris, in the host city.’ And right when she said that, I instantly started crying." Tunney said. "I was just so happy to be part of something so amazing and work for a company that’s so awesome.”
On the clock
In Paris, Tunney worked as an intern runner in NBC’s operations department, which entailed assisting with administrative duties and running various errands. Tunney primarily worked at the Olympics' International Broadcast Center, but she also had the opportunity to work at multiple sports venues, such as the Stade de France and Bercy Arena.
She said she liked the job because every day was different. Her responsibilities varied from organizing NBC’s camera grids at various venues to giving broadcasting notes to reporters. She also worked as a production assistant on the set of "Watch with Alex Cooper," a Peacock-exclusive interactive show featuring Olympic highlights and the creator of the "Call Her Daddy" podcast.
Lazarus and Donofrio served as hospitality guides with NBC’s corporate events team. They handled ticketing and concierge services and accompanied guests to athletic events and other leisure activities around Paris.
Interacting with the guests, who ranged from NBC’s advertisement sales employees to people working for the NFL, allowed Donofrio to expand her professional network, she said.
“For me to just even have a very slight, small conversation with them and then they remember my name just felt so good,” Donofrio said. “I was able to build these connections with people who hopefully, I have reached out to on LinkedIn and maybe can help me out in the future.”
She said the opportunity to explore Paris, which she described as “a culture shock in the best way possible,” made her first trip to Europe a more memorable experience.
“We were able to tour the Palace of Versailles or go to the oldest-running champagne house in the entire world. These are experiences that I just can never get out of my mind, and I hope I never will,” Donofrio said. “Even after long days of work — I mean, some days were 17-hour days — we were able to just walk the streets of Paris and go to all these incredible boutiques or cafes that I just had no idea about."
Ciuci, however, did not spend the summer in France.
She worked out of NBC Sports’ headquarters, which is located in Stamford, Connecticut, and is where roughly 80% of NBC's Olympics content is broadcasted from, she said.
Ciuci worked with NBC's programming department as part of a 10-week internship. For the first seven weeks of the internship, she focused on other NBC sports properties, including the NBA, NASCAR and IndyCar. Then, she worked closely with NBC’s social media team over the final three weeks, when she said she noticed the fast-paced nature of the Olympics made timeliness an important aspect of her work environment.
“On the days I’d be (working) somewhere else, I felt like I could enjoy the victories. But when I was working social media, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, they won. Now, let’s create something,’” Ciuci said. “It’s like you almost barely have a second to be like, ‘Wow, this just happened.’ You have to just immediately get to work.”
'It's really hard to leave'
All four students said they took away lessons and skills outside their specific job duties that they aim to implement through future work opportunities.
Lazarus, who is looking to work in the corporate events side of the hospitality industry, said his internship with NBC reiterated the importance of learning how to work with others and be flexible in the moment.
“You can’t really put on an event without having solid people around you,” Lazarus said. "With events, you can plan for years, but you never really know what’s going to happen until the night of when somebody gets lost, or maybe a medical emergency (happens), and you have to change things up."
Lazarus said the Olympic Games were "a much larger scale than anything I've ever worked on" — including the Masters Tournament, a major sporting event he has worked at twice.
For Donofrio, she realized that preparation and effort can have a powerful impact on those involved with the Olympics.
“I was able to get a little bit more of a deeper understanding of how many hours go into just something that could be an hour of someone else’s day. But for them, they thought it was the best hour of their life,” Donofrio said. “To know the other side of things — it took weeks, even months, to prepare for this — it was insane.”
Tunney, who has always wanted to work for NBC, said she is looking forward to potentially working at another Olympic Games, should she be given the opportunity.
“People have told me, ‘Once you get a glimpse into the sports world, it’s really hard to leave it,'" Tunney said. "But I think, once you get into the Olympic world, it’s really hard to leave it."