Laura Harris & Macy Bayer talk the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris

00:01 Okay. My name is Macy Bayer I'm 18 years old, and today is September 18, 2024. I am here with Laura Harris, NBC 5DFW morning news anchor. Laura, how are you doing today?

00:13 I'm doing great, Macy, how about you?

00:15 I am doing well. You know, this morning was a quick morning, but I'm happy to be with you here today. So for those tuning in, Laura Harris was in Paris this past summer for the 2024 Summer Olympics to start, you know, as an anchor for NBC 5 on air from weekday mornings from 5 to 7am what changes, if any, did you make when transitioning to field reporting?

00:39 Well, you know, it's kind of all the same thing. Right. The only difference is that you don't have a prompter when you're out there. I do think some of the the Olympics poses a unique challenge, but at the same time, it's super exciting, of course, but you have a situation where you kind of know what you're supposed to be covering, but it's almost impossible to cover at all. So we had 22 athletes and I think a couple coaches that we were following, too. And you're in a space that's as beautiful as Paris. But at the same time, everything was so spread out. So it wasn't so much having to worry about going from being an anchor to a field reporter because we kind of use it like as a field anchor position, but it was more like, okay, so how are we going to get all this done? So I think that was the biggest thing, was just understanding that. And I tell people this all the time. Being able to manage your time is something that will benefit you in all aspects of life. The biggest thing that you have to remember when you're covering an Olympics is you have to manage your time because you still have to be on live TV and you also have to be at these events, and you also have to make sure that you get these interviews, but at the same time, you have to get all done at the same time.

01:53 Exactly. And I feel like that's also a learning curve that you've, you know, experienced and, you know, your past career. But is there an event that you covered, you know, in your past that helped you prepare for the Summer Olympics this year?

02:07 I think probably the Tokyo olympics back in 2021, which was supposed to be in 2020, but of course it got delayed because of the pandemic. But I think that was a really good litmus test as to what I needed to make sure I was able to do and how fast we needed to be able to cover things. Tokyo was a little different because we weren't really able to go places in person for, like, two weeks. So they would bring the athletes to us. So it made it a little bit more simple. But I think just having that background and knowing that this is really. It's a sprint. It's a race. Like, you know, people say life is a marathon, not a sprint. No, the Olympics is a marathon, and it's a sprint. So knowing that, before I got to Paris, I was like, okay, I'm kind of prepared for not sleeping, getting work done, making sure we're on live tv. So it was. You know what I'm saying? So it was kind of like it took an Olympics to be able to understand an Olympics for sure.

02:56 You know, that makes total sense. And, you know, coming to NBC 5 in September of 2018, correct? That's when you first started?

03:02 Yes. Okay.

03:03 So, you know, a little less than three years. And did you expect yourself to be covering the Olympics, you know, that soon with five?

03:09 No, because I started here. When I started, I was a weekend evening anchor, and then three days a week, I would report. So I always tell people that I want what God wants for me, I think it's important to always be ready to meet the moment whenever it happens. And so, you know, one of the things I've always done in my career is just being ready for whatever that is. I think I get that from being an athlete. I was a student athlete in college. It's just one of those things where you never know when you're going to be the number one. So you just have to kind of always be ready. So in that aspect, it was. Once they said I was going, it was more okay. I'm just excited to show what I'm made of, for sure.

03:48 And you mentioned you play, you know, at college, you know, athletics. Do you play soccer?

03:54 I did.

03:54 You did. So did that experience kind of motivate you? Did you ever know you wanted to cover the Olympics?

04:00 So I've always loved the Olympics. My first Olympics that I attended was in 1996 in Atlanta, because I'm from Atlanta and I was a kid back then. My parents got us tickets. It was absolutely awesome. But I'm a sports reporter at heart, so I love sports. But I think what's really cool about the Olympics and what's such a blessing to be able to cover it is you will never in your life be that close to greatness in whatever it is. Unless you go to the Olympics. You will never in life Go somewhere where these people are literally the best at what they do, and you get a chance to talk to them about that journey and being the best at what they do, you just. You can't recreate that feeling.

04:41 Yeah, that must have been such an amazing experience. But, you know, leading up to the Paris Olympics, like on a newscast, you joked that you had a room designated for, you know, all the packing supplies. My family and I actually traveled to Europe this past summer for my, you know, little senior vacation. And I know how hectic it was packing for, you know, a trip to Europe. But aside from packing, you know, what was kind of the process for going to Paris and then leading up to opening day ceremony?

05:10 So what we did was we started interviewing athletes around February. And so that is a beast all in itself. So I go, I get all their contact information, maybe I talk to their coaches, whatever it might be, and we go ahead and we get the calendar set. That calendar is bonkers for about, I'd say from February to April. No, we started calling in February, but from April to May, it is just nonstop getting these interviews with these athletes. And you always have to be there when they're practicing. Well, I work starting at 2am in the morning, and I leave at 11:30 in the morning. So these athletes sometimes are practicing at 4 or 5 o'clock in the evening. And some of them live in Austin. So the preparation for the Olympics, I always tell people it's like drinking from a fire hose. You just better be ready. Like, there's no options and there's really very little rest. But it's all so rewarding. But there really isn't anything that can prepare you other than hard work. Like, you just understand that I'm going to have to do this. And I was very fortunate that I had an amazing photographer. Our photojournalist was amazing as well, Noah. And so, you know, we kind of work together to make sure that we had what we needed. But prepare, prepare, prepare just has to do with getting stuff done. You can't wait till the last minute for sure.

06:37 And besides, you know, getting all these interviews for athletes, you know, how was it from, like, landing in Paris, like, to the opening day? Can you walk me through that process?

06:45 It was awesome. So we got there, I think it was five or six days before the opening ceremony. You know, there was a lot of security. We were kind of expecting that the people were nice, the country was nice, the food was great. I mean, I really didn't have one complaint. I think the hardest part, like I said before, is every Olympics is different. So you don't know what that Olympics is going to hold. Right. And so in our instance, it was just. It was the security of it all. I mean, that was the first time that you have an opening ceremony on a river and not in a facility. So, I mean, how do police lock down something that's open to the public? So that was kind of, you know, that was special and different in its own way. But I think just those five days hitting the ground running, there was really no time to sleep, you know, and different reporters will tell you different stories and how they did it. But I know for me it was just better just to get it done. I had set up a couple stories, just lifestyle pieces that we did when we first got there. There's just really no option other than just getting it done. Macy, when I tell you that you're not really thinking about how much work you're doing, you're just thinking, this has to get done. This is when we have to finish it.

07:56 Exactly. No, I could. I can only imagine how much there was to cover. You know, you said like 22 athletes from North Texas, I'm guessing. Okay, yeah. So, like, how was also, like the process making relationships with them? Like, did you already know them previously.

08:09 Or so I knew a lot of them from the Tokyo Olympics and my colleague Brian Curtis, who has been to several Olympics throughout his career here at NBC 5, that's how I kind of got started. So when I found out that I was going to Tokyo, he just gave me what he knew. Right. So that's why it's always nice to be nice to people and collaborate with your colleagues, because he was very sweet to give me that information. From there, I just kind of had to start building my own relationship. So when we went to Tokyo, we had those. So then when I started getting prepared for Paris, I was able to call some of those numbers that I had from Tokyo. But there were a lot of athletes who were first timers. So, I mean, social media is awesome. There was a time when people couldn't use social media. But when I know that there's an athlete out there that I need to talk to, sometimes I'll reach out on social media. Maybe I'll find their coach on social media or they've got a public relations firm. Sha'carri Richardson is like that. It's impossible to talk to her. You have to talk to all her people. But, you know, that's just kind of how we worked it. And you just start calling and leaving emails and leaving messages until people start calling you back. But you start that preparation so far in advance that, you know. Because I knew we needed to start shooting all the Preview stories by April 1st, so I started making calls in February because a lot of these athletes, they are like. They travel the world year round. So in order to catch them, it's like a needle in a haystack. They have to tell you, well, I'll be in Town on March 18th at 3:00. Can you be there? And you just have to say yes. You know, you don't really have an option. So I think that's kind of how we made it work. That's how we met these athletes before we went. And that was really invaluable because that's. You can see it on screen. Like, when I'm seeing an athlete and they see me from a distance and they scream our name like they know who we are. I think that you don't get that same feeling if you haven't met them before, for sure.

10:12 And I feel like, you know, connections is a big part of the Olympics because, you know, being a viewer on screen and you interviewing you an athlete, say, like Hesley Rivera, it was so cool to see how y'all just had, like, a little connection there. So how was the process of reporting on each Olympic event?

10:29 I think it's just, you know, you have to know something about the Olympics, right? And you have to do your own research. Like, there are events that I wasn't really sure I've seen the event, but I didn't know maybe how it was scored. For instance, skeet shooting. We had three skeet shooters on a team. It is. If you don't do your research first, it's impossible to follow how they score skeet shooting. And because we weren't there in person, because the actual venue was, like, three hours away from Paris Center. So I'm just kind of watching it on social media, and I'm watching it on the website. And I think what's really helpful is that you always have to. Again, it goes back to being prepared, right? So if it's a sport that I don't really understand or I don't know how they score it and I don't know how they get, how they move forward. I have to kind of do my own research. The same with gymnastics. Everybody's probably seen gymnastics on tv, but most people don't understand how it's scored. Most people think it's just out of a perfect 10. That's just not how it's scored. Anymore. I mean, they're so good at what they do. It's almost out. It's past the 10. It's past the perfect 10 now. So you just have to kind of do your research when it comes to that understanding the athletes. There are some sports and events where the top six qualify, no matter what happens, or you can only qualify if you get the Olympic standard. Like, you have to know that when you go to the event, you can't just show up and say, oh, they got first place. Well, first place might not have been good enough in that heat, you know, so you just have to really know those things off the top. Because going to an event and trying to figure it out while you're there, it's just really hard to do for sure.

12:08 And, you know, there was plenty of, like, research that went into the actual debut. You said, like, following things on social media, you know, live, you might be reporting, you know, a couple minutes, describe, you know, a usual, like one of your. Most days that stood out, covering the Paris Olympics.

12:22 Yeah. So they all kind of started to run together. But I just remember, you know, I would get up at 3am because I had a live shot at 5am The 5am live shot was the 10pm show back home. So I was always a day ahead. We would do our live shot, I would leave there, I would start getting prepared for the day. I would do like, a little. Here's what we're working on for today. I would write web articles or whatever it might be, and then usually by 9am we were on our way to another event. And especially before you get to the middle rounds, there's like a million events happening at one time. So you're just trying to figure out how to get that done. I think, though, my most. One of the days that I just really stands out the most for me would be when the skeet shooters came to the live location. Because to see all three of them together, I mean, their coach, Vincent Hancock, is the greatest to ever do it. I mean, he's won four gold medals in five Olympic Games, and he was able to bring two of his athletes qualified for the Olympics. So you've got three out of the four athletes on the skeet shooting team are from North Texas. And to be able to see that whole story culminate at the Olympics and all three of them medaled, it was just. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen because I asked him, I said, you know, all three of us talked. Two months ago, we were in North Texas. We Talked two months ago. Would you ever imagine that we'd all be here and everybody here has a medal around their neck and they're just like, this was the greatest thing that could have ever happened, you know? So I think when you see somebody who's worked so they've all worked so hard, but when you see local athletes who have worked so hard, you've covered their careers for years, and then they really make it, just think, there's no greater feeling than that, for sure.

14:14 And I can see how, like, skeet shooting, like, that would have been a full circle moment, you know, like, just looking back and be like, I interviewed y'all, and now, you know, you have an actual Olympic medal hanging around your neck, you know, such a cool experience. And I can tell that skeet shooting was probably, you know, one of the highlight events for you. What other Olympic events stood out to you to cover?

14:30 So, as you mentioned, Hesley Rivera was awesome because she was just 16 years old. She was the youngest member of Team USA when we met her. She was 15. I had to call and get permission from her mom to interview her because she's a minor. So it's just. It's funny how it's so different. And when I talked to her, I will never forget this. I said, so you need to tell me if you're 15 right now. If my math is right, that means that you were watching the Tokyo Olympics at your house at, like, 12 years old, thinking, I want to be on that team. And she said to me, yeah, I was literally watching the Tokyo Olympics three years ago on my couch here in the gym, saying to myself, one day, I hope I'm teammates with some mobiles. Like, these things don't happen in real life. You know what I'm saying? It's just they live this. To us, it looks like a fantasy world. To them, it's everything they've ever worked for. And it's just like I said, people always talk about how cool it was, and I was able to go to the Olympics. And I do like to tell that story, but at the same time, I want people to understand that it was my privilege and my honor to be able to follow their journey and them allowing us to just be a little bit of that journey. I think that part is amazing for.

15:49 Sure, because, you know, people like us sitting on the couch, it's so amazing just to see, like, their story and their journey being brought to life by, you know, the people out there reporting. But it's really like they are the stars of the show. And, like, that's their goal. Like, it's crazy how everybody has different goals and there's just, you know, displayed on, you know, the biggest screen, you know, in the Summer and Winter Olympics. But let's see. You know, multiple athletes from North Texas competed in the Olympics this year, and your goal was to highlight these, you know, North Texas athletes with that in mind. You know, what. Really. How does it mean? Like, what does it mean to you to just be able to tell their story, you know, on a deeper level?

16:28 It means a lot, you know, and it's also a really big responsibility, right? So you don't want to get it wrong. You don't want to say anything wrong. You want to respect their wishes when they need some space. I mean, they're human beings before they're athletes. And I think Simone Biles has really given us a spotlight into that, you know, the mental health aspect of things and to make sure that you're treating people like human beings. And then the heartbreak, you know. So, you know, we're watching Sha'carri Richardson, who we all thought was gonna win the gold medal. She was the favorite to win the gold medal, and then she didn't. But, you know, she won silver, and then she won gold in her relay. But it's still heartbreak. I mean, you can still, you know that when someone has worked their entire life and, you know, Tokyo was taken away from her, and so you see her go to Paris, and you're like, this is her year, and she doesn't quite do what she wants to do. You know, we still think it's amazing, like, you still want silver, but, you know, it's just this feeling of trying to explain to people what that must be like in that moment, while still being very respectful of who they are as people, not putting words in their mouths, but at the same time explaining to people how it felt to be in that stadium. I'll never forget when she got beat and she won the silver. It was like you could hear a pin drop for a moment because everybody who was on Media Row was just like, what just happened? Because it's pouring rain. You know, it was just. It was wild. There's 70,000 people in there. It's absolutely, you know, deafening. It's the first time that we've had fans at a Summer Olympics since before Tokyo because of COVID And you're watching this whole thing unfold, and you're just like, she's a human being. Like, she worked her entire life to this point. She told us she was ready for the gold medal, she fell short just by, what, tenths of a second. And it all came down to that moment. And so I think, for me, it feels like there's an immense responsibility to just make sure that you get it right and you respect people at the same time, for sure.

18:45 And, wow, that's just, like, such a moving story. Also, like, being there in person, just to witness it all and seeing, you know, either the heartbreak or, you know, the happiness on, you know, each athlete's faces must be an amazing experience. How would you think that a lesson you learned covering the Tokyo Olympics helped you prepare or report for the Paris 2024 Olympics?

19:07 Just knowing that you're never going to sleep. That's it. That's it. Like, there's nothing. I mean, I get very little sleep here now, but, you know, in Olympics is you just. Nothing can prepare you for that. I mean, there were days in Paris where I worked 20 hours. And so when you get to that point and you've kind of crossed that threshold and you've been doing, you know, an Olympics is 27 days for the assignment. And you just. You think that you've been doing this for an entire month. I mean, nothing you can compared to that, you know, so it's just one of those things where you are. It's kind of like your own little Olympic journey. Like, you're in, like, an Olympics of how many days can I go without sleeping? So that's kind of how it felt at that point, for sure.

19:53 And I can see how, you know, not getting sleep is definitely a big challenge. Were there any other challenges or, you know, rewards out of covering the Paris 2024 Olympics?

20:01 So, logistically, it was hard, right? And like I said, they had a lot of security, a lot of streets were shut down. We're trying to get our gear around town, and it just. Things were spread out. You know, you're trying to get to this venue, which is 40 minutes away. You're trying to get to this venue, which might take you an hour. So I think that the toughest part about it was the time difference, because we were so. This. Asia was like, basically a day ahead, right? Because Tokyo was so far ahead that we actually got sleep. For Tokyo, this was so close to normal time because they're only, you know, like I said, the time difference was a little shorter. It was just. That was difficult. But speaking of the rewarding part, just the whole thing, I mean, you can never. I tell people this all the time. Seeing an Olympics in person is one thing. Being able to watch Somebody get ready for an Olympics from start to finish and talking to their family about what they have sacrificed, we will never understand. The best I can do is try to convey it to the viewer, but we will never understand what that feels like, you know, and I just, I hope that that's one of the things that we were able to really hammer home is that yes, the Olympics are awesome. Yes, it's fantastic to see these world class athletes, but nobody will understand what it's like to be a human being. They're not subhuman to be a human being. And your full time job is to be the best in the world, mentally and physically. That has to be probably the hardest thing in the world. And so it was our job to show the viewer not just that piece of it, but what Olympic glory and what Olympic heartbreak can look like for sure.

21:54 And I feel like, you know, watching, you know, the newscast and I was looking forward to, you know, every day those during the summer is I could really, you know, sense that too. So another, you know, question is, if the opportunity ever arose, could you see yourself covering the Winter Olympics and why or why not?

22:11 Yeah, we have very few athletes in the Winter Olympics. We have a couple right now that we're watching. But you know, any Olympics that you can cover is awesome. This year's or the 2026 Winter Olympics will be in Italy, which, you know, who doesn't want to go to Italy? But yeah, I think that any Olympics, any chance that I get to cover sports is awesome. That I would jump at for sure.

22:37 And I know you mentioned, you know, I don't, you don't think anything could top covering the Olympics. But if there had to be one event that could maybe, you know, come close, what event do you think it would be?

22:47 Oh, I don't know because I just, you get to see so many sports with the Olympics. I would say the super bowl if my team were playing in it. But then, you know, you have to be nonpartisan. Like you can't really tell people that it's your team. So I don't know. I mean, really, that's, I can't think of like I've covered a Democratic National Convention, I've covered the Republican National Convention. I've covered a lot of different things in my 18 years in this career. And I just don't think that there's anything better than the Olympics. I will say in Olympics in America when we do it in Los Angeles, that is going to be something that, I mean, yeah, you talk about crazy. That is going to Be wild.

23:36 No, I look forward to hopefully, you know, getting to go to the Olympics in Los Angeles because we were our timeframe with the Olympics and going to Paris and we did just didn't work out. But it would have been such an amazing experience, you know, especially to see the North Texas rock climber. Like, can you speak more on that? You know, his story, you know, amazed me just seeing him compete.

23:56 So Sam Watson is awesome. You know, when I met him he was 17, so I had to get permission from his parents too to go talk to him. And he trained right over at Movement Plano. And he's got an interesting story too, simply because, you know, we really hadn't seen. This was the first time that speed climbing, rock climbing has always been, you know, there. But this was the first time you could win an Olympic medal in the discipline of speed. And so he went into the Paris Olympics as the world record holder and it was a great example of heartbreak because we all thought he was going to win the gold medal simply because he was holding the world record. That one little slip in the quarterfinals did it in it and he still won a bronze medal and it was still awesome and fantastic. And you know, the objective is to win a medal. But he even told us afterwards, he just said, you know, that little slip right there is what did me in. But at least he did get a bronze medal. But yeah, that was, that was a very interesting sport. I mean the fastest sport in the Olympics is supposed to be the 100 meter dash and that takes about 10, 11 seconds to run. He's getting up the wall in less than 5. So just to be there for that was super cool. And it's, you know, that is a sport that is popular across the world. We're kind of late to the party, so it was really cool to see so many nationalities and so many people from across the world who were there to see this guy from North Texas because they all wanted to see the world record holder.

25:27 Mm, for sure. Yeah. No, just watching that because I had never really heard of, you know, speed rock climbing before. I was really, you know, into it. But no, it was amazing to watch Sam, you know, this summer. And it's just also think that, you know, you train so hard for, you know, say like a 5 second competition and then just one little slip up, you know. A little.

25:47 Yeah, but exactly.

25:50 So you mentioned, you know, a little bit back in your 18 year career. You've covered many things. Can you speak more on your background and how you got to this point?

25:58 Yeah. So the cliffnotes version of it is, you know, I started, I went to Georgia Southern University where I played soccer. And my degree was going to be in sport management, which it is. That's what I graduated in, a minor in business administration. I wanted to be a sports agent. That's what I wanted to do. But then when I realized it was probably a good idea to go to law school and do all these other things, I said, I don't want to do that, but I love sports. So I started taking some public speaking classes. I did a couple internships at CNN and Turner Sports in Atlanta. And then I landed my first job as a general assignment reporter in a small, small town about two hours outside of Atlanta. I worked there for 17 months. And then I got the morning anchor job in Charleston, South Carolina, at wciv. I worked at ABC affiliate there and then I was there for two years. I moved from there to Tampa, Florida. I was there for six years at the ABC affiliate there, FTSE. And then in 2018, I moved here. And so I've been here for the last six years. So it has been an incredible journey. I think that one of the things that I tell people, especially young people TV is not easy. It looks glamorous. Nothing about this is easy. Getting up in the morning at 2:00 in the morning is not fun. But I will say that I do believe that we have this immense privilege to be able to do what we do every day. And I was just. Somebody had asked me this question over the weekend and they said, have you ever felt disappointment in your career? And I said, you know, I really can't say that I have. And here's why. I have applied for jobs that I did not get. I have felt like I wasn't good enough for a job because I didn't get it. But there is one thing that I can always say, even when I retire from this career. And I always tell people I want to do it as long as my face will allow me. Because once I start feeling like that's just going to be enough, I'm going to walk away. But Macy, I have never been disappointed in my effort. And so I know that I have worked as hard as I can for the last 18 years. And the jobs that I did not get were because they just weren't meant for me. It just was not a good fit. I want whatever God wants for me. So in these 18 years, I have never been disappointed. The only thing that I can say is that when I don't get something, it drives me even harder to get to whatever the next thing is. Right. We just found out yesterday that Dallas, Fort Worth is now the fourth largest market in America. We have now surpassed Philadelphia. So I love working here. I love telling the stories of people of dfw. It is such an eclectic culture. I mean, listen, you can go to Dallas and get one thing, and you can go to Fort Worth and get another. There is no place, I don't think, in this country where you can drive all 20 minutes and get a totally different culture. I just don't know where that's possible. I've never lived there if it is. So I just. The highlights of my career, I hope they haven't happened yet. I hope there's still something left to come. But I think that, you know, the biggest thing that I would tell people that I have taken away from this career is that I have never said to myself, you should have worked harder that day. The reason you didn't get this is because you didn't work harder. The reason I didn't get it is because it wasn't meant for me, for sure.

29:35 You know, it's never a matter of effort. It's like you're putting in the hard work every day. And, you know, with that, what standards do you hold yourself to, you know, whether at NBC 5 or in your, you know, previous jobs?

29:46 Yeah, I think sometimes it's. They're unattainable.

29:49 Yeah.

29:49 I think that for me, of course, you have to get the job done that's in front of you. Right. But it just has to be perfect. To this day, 18 years into this thing, I get mad if I stumble on the air, I just. Because I feel like that's a me problem. That's not anybody else problem. It's a meat problem. So, you know, I still think that preparation is key. And it doesn't matter how many years you read the prompter, like, stuff happens.

30:21 Yeah.

30:22 But I do think that we just work in an industry where perfection is key. And so I always aim for perfection. And that way, wherever I fall is not too bright. So if you're just always looking to be mediocre, then chances are you're not even going to be mediocre. You know, your boss is going to start to notice that. But if you're aiming for perfection and you always miss perfection, then you're probably going to fall. You know, there's like a saying, something like, you know, if you shoot for the moon and you don't make it, you'll still land amongst the stars. Like, it's kind of the same thing, you know, like you have. This is a job where you're not pushing papers every day and it's not a regular 9 to 5. You have got to be right all the time. It's kind of like I get out of bed and I say, this is a zero fail mission. We have to get this done. It's a zero fail mission. And if you just think of it that way. I do think I put a lot of pressure on myself, but I also think that this is a career where you can't help but not, you know, saying exactly.

31:27 And I feel like that's such a great piece of advice, you know, for aspiring people working, you know, wanting to work in the journalism or news industry. What other pieces of advice do you have for, you know, budding journalists and news anchors?

31:38 Yeah. So never take yourself too seriously. You know, there's always going to be mistakes out there, but at the same time, you know, demand excellence from yourself and other people around you will do the same. Right. So I used to think that I've always been a leader, but I used to think that you have to always tell people what you're doing. Right, well, I'm going home and I'm doing this, and I'm not sleeping at night because I'm working. Doesn't matter. The best way to encourage people, I have found, is just to show them better than you can tell them. If you continue to work extremely hard and people see how hard you're working, they notice you don't have to tell them. It's usually the people who are speaking the loudest who are the ones who really. It's just smoke and mirrors, you know, saying like, it's just like, well, I did this and I did this and I did this, and I'm like, but is that the only thing you did all year?

32:28 Yeah.

32:30 I don't need to tell people that I went to the Olympics. I don't need to tell people what my resume looks like. Because I feel like every day when I come to work and I demand this excellence of myself, other people around me start to say, okay, well, when Laura's anchoring my newscast, I need to tighten up just a little bit more because we all want to make sure that that's what we're getting out of it for sure.

32:54 You know, now I have like. I don't know if you consider this a tough question, but if you could only choose to report on one subject for the rest of your career, would it be sports or would it be something?

33:05 Yes, it would Be sports. That's it. That's it. That's all I would do. Sports, I love news and I love my job, but I just. Sports, there's just so many storylines and there's a little bit more fun that can be had with it. Right. You know, when you're doing news, there's a certain. You just got to kind of be kind of straightforward with it. But sports, there's always a space for just giving it a little bit more attitude, a little bit more you. A little bit more of your opinion. So, yeah, it would definitely be sports, for sure.

33:37 And then I think, you know, one last question to end it off. Did you ever get a try the viral chocolate muffin from the Olympic Village?

33:44 No. No. They only had them in the athlete village. And the one time I actually saw one in real life, Sam Watson was eating it in one hand and holding his bronze medal in the other. And I was like, well, dude, he even shook his hand. Shook my hand with chocolate all over his hands. So, no, I never got to taste the viral muffin. If there's a chance for that to happen, especially at LA28, if they bring it back, we gotta have it. We gotta have it.

34:12 What were. Maybe some of the. You didn't get to try the chocolate muffin, but what were some of the perks of being in the Olympic Village or where did you stay while in Paris?

34:18 So we stayed in a hotel that was very close to, like, the Champs Elysees and the Arch of Triumph. The athlete village was maybe 40 minutes away from that, so we never saw it in person. But I do think that the benefits of being where we were is we were really close to the TV tower. So when I needed to get to a live shot or I needed to get to where I needed to go to interview some of the athletes or whatever. Like, we were probably like 15 minutes and the transportation would take us over there. So that was the benefit of being there. The athlete village, it's always fun to go see, but we had a crew that actually went and shot that already. So it was kind of like one of those things where I said before, you had to work smarter and not harder because stuff was so spread out and we had very little time to do the extra stuff that if somebody said, oh, I already got video of the athlete village, we were like, okay, well, we'll just use your video. As long as they were willing to give it to us, then that was what we were able to use for sure.

35:18 And, you know, I feel like working smarter, not harder. With, you know, 22 North Texas athletes and so many events going on at one time. You know, really just have to, like, okay, this is what I need to do at this time. But it will.

35:27 Exactly.

35:28 Do you have any other closing statements about your coverage of the Olympics or your career as a whole?

35:34 No, I think we covered all of it. I would say, though, that you're a great interviewer, so thank you so much for being prepared, having your questions together. It was awesome.

35:42 No, I'm so glad, you know, and so appreciative that you were able to take the time to meet with me this morning. So thank you so much. And I hope you have, you know, an amazing rest of your day week. It's Wednesday.

35:53 I know, but we're gonna make it. Macy, let me know if there's anything else that I can do for you. Thank you for your patience. I know it took me a while to get back to you.

36:00 Yes, no worries. I greatly appreciate it. And just to cap off the interview, I'm Macy Bayer I had the privilege of interviewing Laura Harris, morning News anchor for NBC 5, who went to the Paris Olympics this past summer. Laura, I hope you have a great rest of your day, and thank you for your time.

36:17 You, too, Macy Bye. Bye.

36:22 Hooray.