CI Alumni Take the World Stage for Tokyo Olympics

With a University of Kentucky school-record of 22 athletes participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the College of Communication and Information had some of its own stars competing and covering The Games.

CI had three athletes representing three different countries in two different sports. Sydney McLaughlin, a 2017-2018 journalism major, ran for the United States in track and field. Dwight St. Hillaire, a 2021 communication graduate and current UK graduate student, also ran in track and field but for his home country of Trinidad and Tobago. And Brittany Cervantes, a 2012 journalism graduate and current UK director of softball operations, played softball for Mexico.

McLaughlin left The Games with her first Olympic medals — gold in both the women’s 400-meter hurdles and women’s 4x400 meter relay. At just 21 years old, McLaughlin set a new world record of 51.46 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles, beating the previous record of 51.90 seconds that she set at the US Olympic Team Trials. Days later at the close of the track and field competition, and her 22nd birthday, her relay team won gold with a time of 3:16.85 to make McLaughlin only the second Wildcat to win two medals in the same Olympics. If CI was a country competing in the Olympics, these two golds would place the College in the top 50 for golds and top 75 for total medals.

Hillaire competed in similar events — the men’s 400-meter dash and men’s 4x400 meter relay. In the individual race, he placed seventh in the semi-final 3 race with a time of 45.58 seconds. For the team event, he and his teammates placed eighth in the finals with a time of 3:00.85.

Cervantes helped Mexico to its first Olympic softball appearance while representing her father’s side of the family. Her team would just barely fall to Canada 2-3 in the bronze medal game, despite beating them 2-1 in 2019 to qualify for the Olympics.

As exciting as CI’s alumni are in front of the camera, more CI alumni are helping behind the scenes to capture, record and share their fellow Wildcats’ efforts:
• Maggie Davis (JOU, 2020) used her role as a producer/multimedia journalist to interview McLaughlin and UK alumna and foil gold medalist Lee Kiefer before their arrival at The Games for LEX18’s “BBN Tonight.”
• Annie Dunbar (JOU, 2015) kept people up to date with world record and medal wins through her position as a social media manager at ESPN.
• Michael Ayers (JOU, 2018) was in Tokyo to cover the Olympics as a field producer for NBC. He is also a social media coordinator for Pro Football Focus.
• Michael Reaves (Kentucky Kernel alum) worked as a freelancer with Getty Images as a sponsored photographer serving the International Olympic Committee and their partners.
• Taylor Pence (Kentucky Kernel alum) photographed Team USA in the equestrian events as a social media manager for the United States Equestrian Federation.
• Brandon Goodwin (JOU major 2009-2012 and Kentucky Kernel alum) used his position of director of video curation and distribution at NBC News Digital to ensure news coverage of The Games was streamed, published and available to the largest audience possible.
• Matt Murray (JOU, 2011 and Kentucky Kernel alum) made sure photos and videos of The Games went worldwide from his job as head of social media for TODAY digital.
• Blair Helwig Spitzer (JOU, 2013) was called in by NBC to use her production expertise to cover the Olympics as a studio associate director, even though she is currently an associate director for CBS.