Dispatch from Milan Cortina: Alumna to cover the Winter Olympics

You can take the gal out of America, but you can’t take the American out of the gal.

That’s what producer-reporter Andrea Cruz ’13 learned when she covered the Summer Olympic Games in 2024 for Spanish-language television network Telemundo, owned by NBCUniversal and headquartered in the Miami suburb of Doral.

While in Paris in her professional capacity, she experienced a tug of the heart that surprised her. As Team USA stood on the podium to accept the gold medal in women’s gymnastics, a bout of patriotism kicked in.

“That caught me off guard, to be honest. I was not expecting to feel that way at that moment,” Cruz recalls. Rushing through Bercy Arena en route to a post-competition press conference, she heard the American national anthem begin during the awards ceremony and instinctively stopped her in her tracks. Turns out, she found herself in a section of the building filled with fans from other countries.

“I'm just there all by myself, standing up with my hand over my heart, singing out loud the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ and I just got teary-eyed,” Cruz recounts. “It was just such a very, very surreal moment. I just remember that's probably when I felt closest to home during that whole assignment, while being over there, so far away.”

The season journalist returns to Europe this month for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. She laced up her speed skates, so to speak, weeks ago in preparation for the busy 16-day stretch during which the entire world trains its sights on athletes from around the world.

“It's such a rush while you're there,” she says of her prior experience at the global athletic event, even as she concedes, “It's just work, work, work.”

Buenos días, Milan Cortina

As she did almost two years ago, Cruz will spend between 12 and 16 hours daily to report on and produce stories with appeal to Hispanic households in the United States, the main viewership for Telemundo, which reaches its audience in 210 markets through 30 owned stations and 91 affiliate stations. Leading to her upcoming overseas deployment, she researched the top competitors from around the globe in anticipation of interviewing them in their moments of glory.

When it comes to the Olympics, Cruz explains, the goal is simple: “To find the similarities that can connect people from completely different backgrounds. It doesn't matter if you’ve never seen that sport in person or don't even speak the language.”

That commitment to bringing people together through storytelling has a perfect example in Cruz’s planned coverage of U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov. The now-24-year-old lost his parent-coaches last year in a plane crashed that also carried more than two dozen others connected to the sport. Cruz filed stories about the tragedy at the time and now looks forward to bringing full circle the young man’s inspiring, albeit heartbreaking, tale as he enters the Olympic rink.

“It doesn't matter the language you speak, what country you're from, it’s going to resonate,” Cruz says. “It's an immigrant story at the end of the day. His parents were Russian, and they moved to United States to coach in Boston some time ago.

“Knowing the pride they would have felt if they were still alive to see their son make it to Team USA,” she adds, her words trailing off. “Those are the kind of stories that we’re looking for. It’s just the human-interest angle.”

In Italy, Cruz will operate out of the temporary headquarters of Telemundo in Milan, steps from the famous cathedral in the heart of the city, alongside some 30 others employed by the network and its affiliates. She will appear live on Telemundo’s morning programs to discuss highlights and devote the rest of the day to producing packages to air during prime-time broadcasts.

Gracias, FIU

Cruz arrives to the nonstop action of her overseas assignment on the heels of a similarly busy stateside schedule. She already wears many hats as she files stories daily for broadcast and online channels on topics such as natural disasters in the Caribbean and wars on other continents; produces larger, in-depth video packages; and even steps in, as needed, to fill the role of on-air weather presenter or assignment desk editor. She has to her credit years of reporting breaking news for the Telemundo affiliate and local NBC station in Philadelphia and a shared Emmy for the documentary “Nuestro Planeta: Voces del Cambio Climático,” on which she served as a producer.

A journalism degree from FIU prepared her for all of it, says Cruz, who was born in Miami of Honduran parents.

“I started out in my career with a lot of confidence, and I think that just came from the exposure I had to the industry while I was still at FIU. By the time I made it an actual newsroom, I felt like I fit right in, and I was able to just jump in do what I had to do.”

Cruz participated in three internships as an undergrad, including one that lasted a full year at Telemundo as part of a partnership with the university. The latter cemented her interest in Spanish-language media and prompted her to spend a year studying in Spain to hone her Castilian.

She also participated in the South Florida News Service, an FIU program that shares student-written articles with local outlets for publication. “I just remember being so excited the first time I saw my byline printed on the Miami Herald, the newspaper my parents received at home,” she recalls.

Today, a decade and a half later, Cruz’s enthusiasm for informing audiences remains unabated, her Olympics stint crystalizing both her exhilaration and dedication.

“I love it,” she says. “Just being over there and in the middle of all the excitement.”