Last summer, my manager mentioned on a call that SELF was planning to send two editors to the Olympics. When she followed up that the team hoped I would be one of them, I was speechless. As a longtime sports fan, I was giddy at the idea of seeing the most talented athletes perform on the world’s stage. Of course, I said yes.
As SELF and Allure’s associate social media manager, my duties at the Winter Games included prepping social concepts, shooting image and video content, conducting interviews with athletes, attending sporting events, visiting the Olympic Village, and, of course, keeping our channels up to date on everything Olympics. Read on to hear more about how my days actually panned out while on the ground in Milan. —Katie Gunderman, SELF and Allure associate social media manager
Friday, February 13
1 p.m.: As soon as I stepped off the train at Milano Cadorna station, I could feel Olympic energy rushing through the city. All around me people are proudly sporting jerseys from their respective countries. (I could spot the Netherlands neon orange from anywhere.) The city is painted in blue and green with imagery of Milo and Tina, this year’s mascots, inviting you to watch a game.
5 p.m.: I open my email to peek at the dress code for the TikTok event I have on my agenda for this evening: “High-altitude networking, Olympic highlights, and mountain chic.” Extremely helpful. Would this be an event for the Ralph Lauren Polo Bear sweater, or maybe one of my J.Crew Olympic pieces?
8:30 p.m.: I grab my press badge and take the elevator up to the rooftop bar perched atop the Hyatt Centric. The terrace overlooks the northeastern part of the city and I take it all in before the panel begins. Team USA bobsledder Lauren Brzozowski and the “muffin man” who captured the internet’s heart at the Paris Games, Henrik Christiansen, take a seat on the small stage and pick up their microphones. Henrik mentions how athletes also have to be entertainers in today’s world. I cannot imagine the commitment it takes to be an Olympian, and on top of that having to set up your ring light and record: 6 a.m. lift, 9 a.m. captivate your audience, 12 p.m. train, 3 p.m. avoid getting cancelled, 5 p.m. carb load, 9 p.m. never miss a trend.
10 p.m.: As a social media manager, I understand this world. We constantly have to be on. Online, on-trend, on-brand, on-the-rise. But that’s my job. I can’t imagine having to do that and make the podium. On my journey home, I cut clips before sending them off to SELF’s Olympic Edit broadcast channel, where I give our audience a glance behind the scenes. I include a peek at the space and a selfie I took with Henrik.
Saturday, February 14
10 a.m.: I’m standing in the empty speed skating rink, taking in the clean white ice that would become the evening’s stage. The women’s pursuit quarterfinals would kick off this afternoon followed by the men’s 500m finals.
4 p.m.: I push through the PVC strip doors and take a seat in the first row. (I actually entered through the spectator entrance, not the media one, and was not sitting in the media section but simply the seat someone had nodded and pointed me to. Good luck!) As I settle in I look out and see the stadium is a sea of orange. The Netherlands does not mess around when it comes to supporting their athletes. The speed skating women’s team pursuit quarterfinals start, and when Brittany Bowe hits the ice I’m filled with a feeling I can’t quite place—a mix of admiration, representation, and a flicker of patriotism. Watching these queer women dominate on the ice in a sport I had never seen live before was amazing, and hearing that Bowe would be leading her team of three over the loudspeaker made me smile even bigger. Bowe sat down with SELF before the games to tell us about her “Olympic crush”—a.k.a. her girlfriend and USA’s women’s hockey team captain Hilary Knight. This evening, with Bowe on the rink, I feel proud to support my country because I feel seen. It’s one of the first Valentine’s Days where I’m excited to be by myself, because it makes cheering for queer female athletes a moment that will always be mine.
Sunday, February 15
11 a.m.: I hand my credentials over to be scanned before putting my bag on the conveyor belt and stepping though the metal detector. The double doors open and I’m standing in the Olympic Village. I’m greeted by a PR rep who shows me to the BraidBar event Tampax is hosting. There are six vanity stations set up, where any athlete who walks through the doors can come get a slick back, braid, bun, or charm. French figure skater Lorine Schild is getting two French braids pulled back into a low bun. (Fitting!) While she and German skater Annika Hocke tell me they are getting their hair done for competition, Italian hockey player Carola Saletta and I have a laugh about how their loss to Team USA means she and her teammates are just getting theirs done for fun.
1 p.m.: I pull my phone out of my pocket and read a text from my contact at NBC. I’ll be attending the Canada versus France hockey game at 4:40 p.m. with Redbull divers Molly Carlson and Aidan Heslop, along with content creators Alex and Tom, better known by their handle @ATFrenchies.
3:30 p.m.: We pile into a van and are shuttled off to the game. The ride becomes my formal introduction and crash course to diving, Canada, and F1.
4:30 p.m.: We settle in our seats at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, which is on the southeast side of the city slightly outside of the city center. I have the opportunity to shove a ring light and mic into Molly and Aidan’s faces while I fire off a handful of quick questions. Canada absolutely swept France, and many chants later we were on our way back to the hotel.
9 p.m.: I upload images from my camera onto my phone and create new folders to drop content in. I send the video team the footage of Molly and Aiden and drop all the braid bar and Kiko content into Google Drive. Time to update the broadcast channel too.
Monday, February 16
12 p.m.: I’m on the metro headed to Omega House. The official timekeeper of the games has taken up residence in the iconic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the world’s oldest and most historic shopping malls built in 1877.
12:30 p.m.: A man in head to toe Omega red opens the door, and his colleague is outfitted in matching hues. I’m whisked through multiple elevators and gilded stairwells until making it to the private lounge. Red carpets span the rooms, whose walls are filled with screens prominently displaying the Games. I enjoy another cappuccino before sitting down for lunch.
4 p.m.: The jersey through the glass in front of me reads “KNIGHT 21.” I cannot believe I’m about to watch our women’s hockey team take Sweden. The puck drops and I’m on the edge of my seat for literally the entire game. For every goal we score, American flags are waved high and the red, white, and blue crowd roars. The 5-0 game ends and Team USA has broken the record for the longest shutout run in all of Olympic hockey history.
Tuesday, February 17
9:30 a.m.: I take a deep breath and walk into the Gran Melià Hotel. I am ushered up to room 312 and shake a few hands before scouting a location for my tripod and light. “Shaq is taking breakfast on the roof, but I can take you up there in a few minutes if you want to do the interviews outside?” a voice inquires. It’s finally setting in: I am about to interview Shaquille O’Neal. Let’s just say thank God I mainly stick to women’s sports, or I probably would be losing it.
10 a.m.: Figure skating gold and silver medalist Madison Chock sits down in front of me. Her medals clank together as she makes herself comfortable. I fire my questions at her and before I know it I have Erin Jackson, the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympics, seated in front of me. This year, she became the first Black woman on Team USA to be a flag bearer.
11 a.m.: I grab my equipment and head to the second floor of the hotel. I wait as whispers of “Is he ready for SELF?” work their way through the team in the room. “He’s ready.” I walk through the door and Shaq is sitting on an orange couch. A crew is breaking down lights and tripods as I introduce myself, and he shakes my hand with genuine care. I look down at our feet next to each other and smile: As a six-foot-tall woman, there are not many times I feel small—this is definitely one of them. Our 10 minutes come to a close and I offer him one of the Team USA friendship bracelets I made for athletes I would be interviewing. He tells me his favorite color is blue, but he’s wearing red today (to promote athlete recovery for his partnership with Eli Lilly, he says) so he’ll take a red one. The crew laughs and I stretch the red beaded bracelet onto his wrist.
6 p.m.: For a lot of people, the best part of this Tuesday would have probably been interviewing Shaq, which was undeniably cool. But for a queer girl from Oakland, California, it was watching Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu take the ice. Watching Liu, Oakland’s alt treasure, was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. There is such intensity and passion in her whimsical and artful movements. Power and grace in every step sequence and triple-lutz, triple-loop combination. My queer icon, Amber Glenn, takes her position in front of the judges as Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” fills the arena. She cries at the end of her performance and my heart feels heavy for her. She finishes 12th, and Liu, third.
Wednesday, February 18
10 a.m.: I’m sipping a cappuccino at So Natural, a vegan breakfast joint in Magenta-San Vittore, sitting across from a friend I made at a speed skating event. We’re seated outside and the sun warms my face as I take a bite of a pistachio pastry, which to my surprise doesn’t even taste vegan. I check my email. “Media Availability: Ilia Malinin (figure skating),” reads the subject line. I’ve never opened an email so fast. “SELF – 5:24-5:29.” I can work with five minutes.
5 p.m.: This is the first interview I am actually nervous about.
5:45 p.m.: Ilia Malinin walks into the room, and everyone’s heads turn. I watch as he sits for his five minutes with CNN, CBS, ABC, and People. I take a sip of water and take off my jacket—I’m sweating at this point. “Hi Ilia, I’m Katie from SELF. If you want to take a seat here and make yourself comfy,” I gesture to the green couch my tripod is pointing towards. He centers himself and scoots all the way back. I tell him I like his outfit—he’s wearing Nike puffer pants. “Feel free to sit forward, you don’t have to lean all the way back if that’s not comfortable,” I say. “No, I really like being comfortable, this is nice,” he says and smiles at me. He’s almost one with the green velvet, holding the mic with two hands, legs spread, and his feet barely touching the ground. After I ask him my list of questions I hold an array of friendship bracelets before him, asking if he would like to take one. “Cool, yeah!” He picks the red, white, and blue beaded one.
Thursday, February 19
7 p.m.: Row two, seat 15. I am so close to the rink I can see the individual sequins sewed onto Lorine Schild’s competition dress. She is the first one to take the ice during the women’s free skate figure skating finals. I think about our conversation in the Olympic Village just days before and wish her luck as I clap.
8 p.m.: Amber Glenn waves to the crowd as she prepares to enter the rink. The crowd erupts as soon as her skates meet the ice. She warms up and after her first loop unzips her Team USA jacket and tosses it to her coach. Her performance is full of emotion and my eyes water as she strikes her final pose and the music ends. To my untrained eye it looked perfect. “147.52,” the announcer relays to the arena, and the golden “1” appears next to her name on the megatron. “OH MY GOD!” Oksana, my 16-year-old seatmate from Brooklyn, and her mother, whom I befriended, turn to me and scream. “She’s literally perfect.”
9:10 p.m.: “Are you watching the hockey game?” My Slack notifies me that I got a message from Ana on the Them team. “OMG NO, I’m at figure skating, but refreshing the score on my phone,” I reply.
9:28 p.m.: “THEY SCORED,” a follow up Slack reads. “OH MY F*CKING GOD. WHO GOT THE GOAL,” I send back. “Knight!!!! With an assist from Edwards.” I beam in my seat. The newly-engaged (as of February 18th) Hilary Knight is on track to bring home gold. “Going to overtime,” Ana’s update reads.
9:45 p.m.: The second of the Blade Angels, Isabeau Levito, takes her position. “She’s literally an ice princess,” Oksana whispers. Levito’s light blue dress catches the stadium lights on every jump and turn. “131.96,” booms through the speakers.
9:56 p.m.: Ana: “WE WON”
Katie: “AHHH HOLY EFFF. Omg I’m so excited. Who scored?”
Ana: “Keller!!! 4 mins into overtime.”
Katie: “Omg YES. I love women’s sports. LFGGGG!”
Ana: “There are tears in my eyes.”
I ping my team, we need a post up STAT.
10:30 p.m.: Alysa Liu skips onto the ice, her gold costume a manifestation of what is to come. “Let’s go Oakland!” I scream. She exudes confidence with such ease you can tell she is appreciating and enjoying every moment of her skate. Her split-dye hair whirls behind her, as free spirited as she is. She pulls her leg over her head before striking her final pose. “150.20.” Everyone in the stands is on their feet, American flags are waving in the audience, and I blink away more tears.
10:40 p.m.: I drown out the crowd’s noise as I import a handful of video clips into Edits. Alysia Liu just received a standing ovation and I know a good viral moment when I see one. I trim clips and add copy to the screen. Export, open in Instagram, type my caption, post.
11:15 p.m.: Medals are placed on Japan’s Ami Nakai and Kaori Sakamoto before Lui bows her head, the gold adorning her sequin-covered costume. “This is America’s first gold since 2002,” my seat neighbors tell me. I record videos of each athlete’s praise as they step onto the podium. I drop the clips into edits and put together a “Hear the crowd roar as your champions take the podium” video. Export, add emojis for flair, post.
My American seatmates and I all exchange hugs and they tell me to join them in the walk to the metro. We all look back at the rink before stepping into the sea of excited attendees. This Olympics, women won big. And considering the political climate in the US right now, I couldn’t be prouder that it’s the queer, alt, Black, Asian, and what many would label “past their prime” women representing our country who got to bring home gold.
Friday, February 20
10 a.m.: My bags are packed and I make one last trip to the city center before checkout. I promised my best friend’s mom an Olympic snow globe and had to take one more pass to see if there was a miracle the Tina’s were restocked. I do a cheesy wave goodbye to the Duomo and step back on the metro.
All photos courtesy of Katie Gunderman.
Related:
- Why Figure Skater Ilia Malinin’s Winter Olympics Backflip Is Such a Big Deal
- Lindsey Vonn Doesn’t Need Your Permission
- 4 Rules You Probably Didn’t Know About Olympic Skaters’ Outfits
Take a look back at the rest of SELF’s 2026 Olympics coverage here.
