For most, the Olympics are a time to sit back, relax and enjoy the final moments of summer before returning to their jobs. For University of Miami alumna Sam Peene, it was just the beginning of a long-awaited opportunity.
After switching to a journalism major in her junior year, Peene graduated from Miami in 2023 and landed a job as a writer for Olympics.com. Peene and her co-workers spent weeks preparing to cover the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Covering the event was a whirlwind, with Peene sometimes writing up to seven stories a day. It was a stressful but rewarding experience, marking a high point in Peene’s young career. Following the challenges of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Paris also marked a return to normalcy.
Throughout the Olympics, Peene had the opportunity to report on a variety of events. However, there was one story that was most meaningful to her: covering French swimmer Léon Marchand and his achievements.
After underperforming in 2020, Marchand redeemed himself with four individual gold medals, all with Olympic records. Peene wrote about two of his show-stealing races, one of which headlined the website for the rest of the day.
“I got to cover his last two races. And I got to cover his fourth race … he won gold and broke the Olympic record,” Peene said. “And getting to cover that, I really felt like, ‘Okay, this might be the moment where I feel like I’ve made it. I’m covering for the French star of the Olympic game, for Olympics.com.’ I have to say that was my favorite moment.”
Peene credits Michelle Kaufman’s sports reporting class and her time with The Miami Hurricane (TMH) as what ignited her passion for sports writing.
“That class changed everything. I started working at The Miami Hurricane in the newsroom, so the combination of the class and my experience at TMH is almost fully to credit what I am doing now,” Peene said.
Working with TMH also provided Peene with invaluable real-world experience covering a variety of varsity sports in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, to local Miami sports.
“It was like working in the real world while still at school,” Peene said.
Peene acknowledges it was a very challenging few days — writing more pieces in one day than what most do in one week. But, because of her training in Miami, she was ready for this monumental task.
I had to kind of remind myself to just take it story by story, day by day,” Peene said. “And then I would come out on the other side of it.”
This even-keeled mantra led to Peene having one of the greatest experiences of her young career.
“I really wanted to come out feeling proud and accomplished and feeling like I had done the best that I could because I was so excited to be covering the Olympic games.”