At the top of their game: Rio Olympic success for team News Associates

Who has a bigger team than Paraguay at the Rio Olympics? Answer: News Associates.

In total there are 14 graduates from our courses reporting the Games in Brazil for a variety of news outlets, ranging from the BBC to ESPN, the Daily Mail to the Daily Telegraph.

“I started my NCTJ Diploma with News Associates the day after London 2012 finished, four years later I’m covering the Games,” said Pippa Field, Sportsbeat’s Olympics editor.

“The course was the best decision I made and it gave me the perfect grounding to make my break in the industry. I think what’s really unique about it is the opportunities you get to put theory in practice, whether that’s covering matches or press conferences or events.

“It’s hard work but you are treated like a journalist from day one, not a student and the qualification really opened doors for me.

Other News Associates alumni in Rio are the Daily Telegraph’s rugby writer Daniel Schofield and athletics correspondent Ben Bloom, ESPN reporter Tom Hamilton, Yahoo’s Ryan Bailey, PA Sport’s Jamie Holt, BBC Sport’s Tom Reynolds and the Daily Mail’s Khaleda Rahman.

“News Associates has a reputation as the best, so it was an obvious best first career move. The tutors were first class,” added Daniela Matar, who is working in Rio for international news agency, the Associated Press.

Joining Pippa on the Sportsbeat team in Rio are three other graduates from our training programmes, Ben Baker, Charlie Talbot-Smith and Ryan Walters.

And we’ve even got alumni on the British Olympic Association team. Ryan Bangs and Ed Langford are the editor and deputy editor of the official news service, with Stuart Clarke and Chris Cottrell both writers. Emma Kennedy has been seconded from the RFU to work as one of the team’s senior press officers.

David Churchill, an award-winner at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence in 2012, is also covering the Games for the Evening Standard.

He said: “The News Associates course was life changing. Six years ago I was losing my mind working in insurance. Now I am covering the Olympic Games in Rio after deciding on a career change.

“News Associates made that happen. The course leaders go the extra mile to make sure you have all the skills needed to deal with any news situation and give you an edge in a tough but fun industry.”

To follow in their footsteps apply now