Questions to Ask an Olympian
These questions are for anyone about to meet an Olympic or Paralympic athlete: a class getting ready for a school visit, a young competitor waiting in an autograph line, a student reporter or a podcast host with an hour to fill. They run in the order of an Olympic career, from qualifying through the Village, the day of the event, medals and near misses, and money, to the years after the Games. Most can be put to any Olympian; a few are only for a medalist, a Paralympian or a press interview, so look up the athlete's record before you choose.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Getting there
How old were you when you started your sport, and how old were you at your first Olympics?
Why ask it
The two ages mark out the whole apprenticeship, and one of them tends to surprise a school audience: some Olympians took up their event in their late teens, others were at it before they could read. Follow with whether they were the best in their club at twelve.
When did the Olympics stop being a dream and become a plan?
Why ask it
Listen for a result, a coach's remark or a date on a calendar. Whatever they name, ask what changed in their week after it, since a plan shows up in the timetable before it shows up anywhere else.
How does qualifying work in your sport, and how close was it for you?
Why ask it
Selection is different in every sport and country: trials, world rankings, quota places, a committee's choice. Let them explain their own system before you ask about the margin, and do not assume it worked the way another athlete told you.
Where were you when you found out you had made the team?
Why ask it
This one gets a scene: a scoreboard, a phone call, an email opened in a parking lot. The first person they told is the one who carried those years with them, so get that name too.
What do the four years between Games look like from the inside?
Why ask it
Viewers see two weeks. Ask about the second year in particular, when the last Games have faded, the next are far off and the training load is the same.
How many hours a day did you train in the final year before the Games, and what did you change?
Why ask it
The number of hours is what a young athlete wants, but the more useful half is what got cut: an event dropped, a job paused, a move to be near a coach. Peaking for a date fixed years ahead is its own skill, so find out when they eased off and how they knew.
Did an injury ever put your place at the Games in doubt?
Why ask it
An Olympic final does not move for anyone's hamstring, which is what separates an injury in the last months from one in an ordinary season. Leave the diagnosis to them and stay with the decisions: who made the call on whether they could go, and how late it was made.
Did you ever miss out on an Olympic team, and what did you do with the years that followed?
Why ask it
A first attempt that fell short sits behind a lot of Olympic careers. Save it for a setting with time to hear the whole thing out; in a signing line it is too big a question.
Who were you up against for your place on the team, and are the two of you still in touch?
Why ask it
The rival for a spot is often a training partner or a friend, which makes this harder to answer than it sounds. A warm answer earns the follow-up about what they said to each other afterward; a short one means move on.
How does classification work in your event, and what do people most often get wrong about it?
Why ask it
For a Paralympian. Classes exist to group athletes so the contest is fair, and the athlete can explain theirs far better than a guess from the stands. Keep it about the sport's rules and leave medical history alone unless they bring it up.
At the Games
What is the Olympic Village really like?
Why ask it
Often the first thing a school group wants to know. Push past 'amazing' by asking about one room: the dining hall, the bedroom, the laundry.
Did you walk in the opening ceremony, and what do you remember of it?
Why ask it
Start with 'did you', because athletes who compete early in the Games often stay away to rest. If they went, ask about the wait before the walk, which can be longer and stranger than the walk itself.
Who is the most famous athlete you ran into in the Village?
Why ask it
A crowd-pleaser for a young audience, and better still when the name is someone they grew up watching. Whether they said hello or just stared is the follow-up, and it is fine to laugh when the answer is that they stared.
What is it like to compete with your country's name on your chest?
Why ask it
Some feel lifted by it and some feel the weight, and plenty feel both in the same hour. For an athlete who has represented more than one country, or competed on a neutral or refugee team, ask how that came about before you ask how it felt.
What happens at the Games that television never shows?
Why ask it
This hands them the choice of story, so it suits a nervous interviewer. Expect buses, queues, security checks and boredom, and ask which of those nearly threw them off.
Which other sport did you go and watch while you were there?
Why ask it
Shows what the athlete is like as a fan. If they could not get to anything, the reason is its own answer: the schedule, the rules that year or a coach who wanted them resting.
Did you trade pins or kit with athletes from other countries, and what did you bring home?
Why ask it
Pin trading is an old habit at the Games, and every swap has a person attached. The thing they would never give away is where the best story is likely to be, so end there.
How did your family watch you compete?
Why ask it
In the stands, on a couch at four in the morning or at a club full of people from their hometown: each is a different picture. The first message from home afterward is worth asking for word by word.
What were the days like after your event was over, while the Games carried on around you?
Why ask it
Athletes who finish early live in the Village with nothing left to prepare for. How they filled that time, cheering teammates, sleeping or flying home before the closing ceremony, says a lot about how the result sat with them.
How was your second Games different from your first?
Why ask it
Only for someone who went back, so check their record before you ask. Listen for whether the first was something to take in and the second a job to do; the host city, the team around them and their own age all shift the answer. For a one-time Olympian, swap in what they would do differently with a second chance.
On the day
What time did you wake up on the day of your event, and how did you fill the hours?
Why ask it
Ask for the clock times. A final held late in the evening leaves a whole day to get through, and what they did with it is practical for any young athlete facing a long wait at a meet.
How did the nerves at the Games compare with any other competition you have been in?
Why ask it
Some say it was the same job on a bigger stage, others that nothing prepared them. Either way, ask for the one thing they did about it that a young athlete could copy this weekend.
What is it like in the call room, waiting beside the people you are about to compete against?
Why ask it
Track and swimming have a call room; other sports have a tunnel, a warm-up hall or a chair by the mat, so name theirs if you know it. Ask who talked, who would not look up and which of those they were.
Once you started, could you hear the crowd or did it all go quiet?
Why ask it
Some athletes hear every shout and some hear nothing until it is over. If the noise disappeared, find out when it came back. Someone who competed in Tokyo, where most of the stands were empty, has a different answer altogether.
How much of the performance itself do you remember?
Why ask it
Do not be surprised by 'almost nothing'. When that happens, ask what it was like to watch the video for the first time, because that may be where their picture of the day really comes from.
Did anything go wrong that day that nobody watching would have noticed?
Why ask it
A lost bag, a late bus, a strap that broke in warm-up. The story is in how they dealt with it, and it teaches more about competing than an account of a perfect day.
What was the last thing your coach said before you went out?
Why ask it
The words are usually few and often nothing to do with technique. Where the coach was standing matters as well: some sports allow one at the athlete's side and others keep them in the stands, so check how it works in theirs.
What was the first thing you did when it was over?
Why ask it
Looked at the scoreboard, found a teammate, lay on the floor. A small physical detail here is worth more than 'it was a blur', so wait for one.
Medals
How long did you have to wait to find out where you had finished?
Why ask it
In a timed sport it is a glance at a board, and in a judged one it can be minutes in front of a camera. It works for every Olympian, medal or not, which makes it the safest way into the result.
Where do you keep your medal, and did you bring it today?
Why ask it
Only for a medalist, and at a school visit check with the organizer first so nobody is put on the spot. If they pass it around, ask about the strangest place it has ever been.
Who could you see from the podium?
Why ask it
A medalist's question that gets past the stock account of the ceremony, because it puts a face in the crowd: a parent, a coach, a rival clapping. The wait beforehand, being lined up and told where to stand, is the part no broadcast covers, so go there next.
What went through your mind while the anthem played?
Why ask it
The anthem is played for the winner, so check the result before you ask. For a silver or bronze medalist, try what it was like to stand through someone else's, asked kindly.
How do you think about your result now, compared with the night it happened?
Why ask it
Made for the athlete who finished fourth or fifth, though it works for any placing. Just outside the medals means years of second-guessing for some and real pride for others, so do not decide which before they answer, and let the silence run.
What is drug testing like for an Olympic athlete?
Why ask it
Older students are curious about this, and it is a routine part of the job that an athlete can describe without anyone being accused: who turns up, when, and how much notice there is. The details depend on the sport and the testing body, so let them describe their own.
How confident are you that everyone you competed against was clean?
Why ask it
A reporter's question, not one for a school hall. Ask it plainly and without accusing anyone, and be ready for an athlete whose own placing was changed years later by someone else's test.
Money
How did you pay your way through the years before the Games?
Why ask it
People assume Olympians are well paid, and the real mix of grants, family money, savings and shift work can surprise a room. If a job comes up, the employer who agreed to months off for a training camp is a story in itself.
Does your country fund its Olympic athletes, and how does that work for your sport?
Why ask it
Support differs widely between countries and between sports inside one country, so let the athlete describe their own setup. If you are reporting, confirm the details with the federation before you print them.
What was the most expensive part of getting there?
Why ask it
Travel to qualifiers, equipment, coaching, physio and rent near a training base are the usual candidates. The surprising ones, such as flying a horse, a boat or a bag of vaulting poles, make the best radio.
Does a medal come with prize money where you compete?
Why ask it
What a medal pays depends on the country and sometimes the sport, from nothing at all to a sum that changes a life, so let them say how it is under their flag. For someone who did not medal, turn it into whether qualifying or a top-eight finish brought anything.
Did your result at the Games change the support you received afterward?
Why ask it
In some systems funding follows results and in others it does not, so ask how it works in theirs. An athlete who lost support after a near miss has a story about the sport that the medal table hides.
Who helped pay for all this and never gets thanked in public?
Why ask it
Parents, a club that waived fees, a local business, a partner who covered the rent. Give them room, because a name said out loud here is one that person will hear about later.
Afterward
What were the first few weeks after the Games like?
Why ask it
Athletes often talk about a flat, lost stretch once the thing they aimed at for years is over, medal or not. Listen without putting a label on it, and ask what or who helped.
How did people at home treat you differently after the Games?
Why ask it
The honest answers cover both the parade and the people who only asked about the medal. Follow with who treated them exactly the same, which is usually the part they are grateful for.
How did you decide whether to go for another four years?
Why ask it
The decision is rarely made in the week after. Ask what was on each side of the list: body, money, family, and whether the last result felt like an ending.
What do you do now, and what from your Olympic years do you use in it?
Why ask it
For a retired athlete. If 'discipline' comes back as a one-word answer, ask for a recent Tuesday when the old habits helped, or got in the way.
What do you miss about being a full-time athlete, and what are you glad to be done with?
Why ask it
The two halves together stop the answer from turning into nostalgia. The second half is where the early alarms, the weigh-ins and the paperwork come out.
Did you get the Olympic rings tattoo, or mark it some other way?
Why ask it
The rings tattoo is a tradition among Olympians in many sports, and those who skipped it tend to have a reason worth hearing. Whatever they kept instead, a framed race number, an accreditation pass, a room key, find out where it lives now.
People say once an Olympian, always an Olympian. Does it feel that way to you?
Why ask it
Some wear the title easily and some feel it describes a person they no longer are. A good closer for a longer interview, and too abstract for young children.
What should a twelve-year-old who wants to go to the Olympics be doing this year?
Why ask it
Asking about this year, not for advice in general, gets something usable: play other sports, find a club, sleep. A young athlete at a meet and greet can swap in their own age and event.
If you could talk to yourself the night before your Olympic event, what would you say?
Why ask it
A closer that works in any setting. Whether the message is advice or reassurance tells you how they have made peace with the result.
Getting a real answer from an Olympian in the time you have
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you meet them
Look up the result first
Find out which Games they went to, Summer or Winter, their event and where they finished before you write a single question. It takes five minutes, it stops you from asking a fourth-place finisher where they keep their medal, and it lets you spend your time on things a results page cannot tell you.
Know whether it was the Olympics or the Paralympics
They are separate Games with their own events and rules. Use the right name, learn the athlete's event and class if there is one, and ask about the sport before anything else, as you would with any competitor.
Pick for the time you have
A signing line gives you one question, a class visit perhaps five between thirty students, a podcast an hour. Choose that many, put the one you care about most first, and keep two spares for when someone ahead of you asks yours.
Ask about the medal in advance
If the visit is to a school or a club, the organizer can ask beforehand whether the athlete is bringing a medal and whether children may hold it. That is not a request to spring on them in front of a hall.
Which groups suit which room
A school assembly
Start in At the Games and On the day: the Village, the ceremony, the crowd. Young children want things they can picture, so save Money and the heavier Medals questions for older students, and have each class agree on its question beforehand so five children do not all ask about the medal.
A meet and greet
A young athlete with thirty seconds should ask something they can use. The final-year training question, the one about nerves and the one about what a twelve-year-old should be doing this year all get an answer that can be tried at the next practice.
A press interview or podcast
Getting there and Money hold the least-told material, because broadcast coverage skips both. Work up to the missed team, the fourth place and the clean-sport question after half an hour of easier ground, not in the first five minutes, and use the drug testing question as the step before the last of those.
An athlete still competing
Someone aiming at the next Games will not want to talk about retirement, or to pick over how the last result sits with them. Stay with qualifying, the cycle and the day itself, and leave most of Afterward for a later year.
What goes wrong
Asking how it felt
'How did it feel to win?' has been answered in every interview they have given, and the answer is by now a recording. Ask where they were standing, what they could hear or who they looked for, and the feeling arrives attached to something new.
Treating no medal as a failure
Most athletes at any Games go home without a medal, and each of them still earned a place that very few people ever get. Never open with 'did you win?'. Ask what their event was and how the day went, and let them bring up the placing.
Assuming how the system works
Selection, funding, prize money and coaching arrangements differ from one country and one sport to the next. A question built on what you heard about another team leaves the athlete correcting you, so ask how it works for them.
Making a Paralympian's impairment the subject
How someone came to have an impairment is their story to offer, not yours to request, and calling them inspiring before you have asked about their sport tends to land badly. Ask about training, tactics, equipment and rivals, which is what they came to talk about.
Once they have answered
Follow the detail
When an answer contains a name, a place or an object, ask about that before moving to your next question. 'You said the bus was late. What did you do for those forty minutes?' gets further than anything prepared.
Check before you publish
For a school paper, a blog or a podcast description, confirm the event name, the year, the host city and the placing against the official results. Memory compresses a long career, and the athlete will be glad you got it right.
Say what you will take away
At a school visit or a meet and greet, end by telling them the one thing you are going to try because of what they said. It costs ten seconds, and it shows the visit was worth their afternoon.