The Beginning
Tracy's interest in News Media began in High School, where she took her first Journalism class and worked on the school paper. Tracy became instantly fascinated with the news business after completing a class report on Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Bob Woodward. "He is the person that really inspired me to become a journalist. Ever since I was 16, I've always said, I'd love to meet him one day." For those of you who don't recognize the name, Bob Woodward is one of the two reporters from the Washington Post who broke the story on the Watergate scandal. His investigative reporting eventually led to the resignation of President Nixon on August 8th, 1974. "I was fascinated by the power of the press and its protection by the First Amendment of our Constitution. The fact that the work of two journalists could bring down the White House, and force the resignation of the most powerful man in the world was just amazing to me."

A rookie reporter at The Washington Post when he got the call about a break-in at the Watergate in 1972, Bob Woodward has become synonymous with the term "investigative reporter." "Deep Throat" may be his most notorious anonymous source, but it isn't his only one -- a controversial factor that has colored his work since "All the President's Men." One thing isn't up for debate: Woodward gets inside information others can only dream of. Bob Woodward

University Studies
In her first years of college at the University of Wisconsin Madison, Tracy focused on newspaper writing and print journalism. She remained on the Dean's List all of her semesters there. It was at Arizona State University that Tracy shifted her focus to the broadcast sector of the media. "It was the broadcasting classes that changed my mind. I had so much fun with it and I was fascinated by everything that went into putting a newscast on the air." Tracy graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in History.

With a passion to pursue her Track and Field career, Tracy followed her coach, Tom Jones to the University of Florida, where he took the head coaching job. At UF, Tracy worked on her Masters degree in Telecommunications, while training for the Olympics.

Off to a Good Start
Tracy's first television job came in 1995 at the NBC station in Atlanta, WXIA-TV 11 Alive. This was a very impressive beginning for Tracy. In the news business, it is almost unheard of that anyone fresh out of school start their career out in one of the nation's top ten markets. Atlanta is ranked #9. The story of how she got her first job there is a great one. It is a typical example of Tracy's unwavering determination at anything she sets her mind to.

Getting the Job
Tracy believed her situation was unique, in that she was an Atlanta based athlete training for the Olympics and had a background in broadcasting. After all, this was the official station of the Olympic Games. She applied for a job as an editor, and while on her interviews, she shared her ideas on how advantageous her position could be as the Games were approaching. But since there were no positions available, she got the usual runaround. "I could see I was getting nowhere. I had already met with the executive producer and the assistant news director and they kept saying they'd get back to me." Now most people would just accept that and move on to the next job; but not Tracy.

Going to the Top
"I really believed in my ideas. So one day, on my way out of the station I stopped at the receptionists desk and asked, 'who is the highest person at this station?' She replied, 'That would be Mr. Craig Dubow, our General Manager.' So I got the number and set out to take my ideas to the top.' Not an easy job! Craig Dubow was the GM of the official NBC station of the Olympic Games. CEO's of every major corporation in the world wanted to meet with him. "I remember seeing the president of Xerox and Visa; and thinking, god I'm just a kid out of school."

Craig A. Dubow now serves as President and CEO of Gannett Broadcasting.

"I called or went in every day for about six weeks straight, requesting a short meeting. I was very persistent. Finally, Amy, his assistant, told me, 'he's just NOT going to be able to see you. And I remember looking up at the clock, it was 5:45 p.m. Now to this day, I still don't know what possessed me to say what I said next; but my reply was this: 'What time does Mr. Dubow leave to go home?' And she said 'around 6 p.m.' And I said, 'good, I'll wait and walk him to his car, while I talk.' She glared back at me like I was completely insane and said, 'just a moment,' and went into his office. Now I was thinking, oh my god, they're probably calling security. But she came back out a few minutes later. With a stone cold look on her face; in a monotone voice, she said 'Mr. Dubow will see you now.'

Tracy learned later that the ONLY reason Mr. Dubow agreed to see her at that point was just sheer curiosity. "I walked into the most beautiful office I'd ever seen, and behind this huge desk across the room sat Mr. Craig Dubow. He put his phone down and said, 'You have five minutes.' I froze for a second, then thought, 'oh gosh Tracy, just start talking.' So I did and I went over all my ideas just like I'd rehearsed. And surprisingly, he seemed to like them all. I know this because, this same man who had only five minutes in next year, didn't seem to care that an hour and a half had gone by and we were still talking. He called in Amy and said he wanted me to come back at 8:30 the next morning to meet with him and Bob Walker, the station's Vice President."

The Job
Tracy's persistence paid off. The next morning Tracy returned to the meeting to get the biggest surprise of her life. "They CREATED a position for me at the station." It was something that had never been done before in the history of the station. "They told me I would start the next week. I was thrilled!"

During the months leading up to and during the Olympic Games, Tracy's job included: editing Olympic stories and doing wrap ups of each day of the Games, assisting the Olympic producer on stories ideas and interviewing her fellow track athletes. She worked with the promotions team and even hurdled in an Olympic commercial spot for the station. Tracy also had the opportunity to work with Bob Costas and Mary Lou Retton while interviewing athletes. "I worked at WXIA for two years and loved every minute of it."

In 1997 Tracy decided to train for the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney. That meant moving to the training base at the University of Texas in Austin. "I was really sad to leave that station, I loved everything about it. But I was also looking forward to the future. The day I left, Mr. Dubow said to me, 'do you know why I hired you? It was because I knew that if you could do nothing else, your determination alone would bring something great to this station, and I was right. Tracy don't ever lose that.'"

And she never did.

Moving on...
Tracy's next job was at the NBC station in Austin, Texas, KXAN News 36. During this time she would focus on her running, while working in numerous capacities at the station. "At this point, I had done things on-air, but I really wanted to learn everything about the entire production of the newscast. I'd always been fascinated by how so many different jobs had to come together to pull off the newscast." Those jobs include, anchoring, reporting, writing copy, editing, audio, cameras, chyron, directing, producing, teleprompter, scripts. "I didn't want to be one of these people who become specialized and only care to know one or two aspects of the business, I wanted to learn everything." Aside from the knowledge aspect, I think its good to understand that EVERY job, the big and the small, deserve the same respect, because all parts have to work to make it happen." Working for two years on the evening newscasts at KXAN Tracy got the knowledge base she was looking for in broadcasting, all the while maintaining a very intense Olympic training and travel schedule.

"Everyone was so great and supportive of my Olympic training." (Of course it didn't hurt that NBC is the network of Olympic Games) Then, in October of 1999, while on her way to the NBC station for the 5:30 Newscast, an accident happened that would change the next year of Tracy's life. "I was halted at a stoplight, when this Suburban came flying around the corner and hit my car from behind. I remember feeling really sore at the time, but I never dreamed in a million years, it would ever affect my running." But it did. The result was an L-5 spinal fracture that would eventually halt Tracy's training and end her dreams of competing in the Sydney Olympic Games. Tracy would go to Sydney, not as an athlete, but as a journalist and broadcaster.

Sydney 2000
While Tracy did interviews for NBC, it was a News Media company called World Sport that she focused her attention on in Sydney. "It was great in Sydney. I loved all the events, the interviews, the stories we covered, it was one of the best experiences of my life." Of course it helped the company immensely that Tracy had every credential imaginable. "Yes I think that helped, we had access to every place the stories were, and sometimes for a reporter, that is the hardest part." It was in Sydney, with World Sport, that Tracy was first introduced to The World Olympians Association, the athlete branch of the International Olympic committee.

A Big Decision
After returning home from Sydney, Tracy decided to retire from Track & Field and focus fully on building her broadcast career. In December she was hired as a producer for the NBC station in Tampa, Florida: WFLA News Channel 8. "I really loved News Channel 8. I learned so much there. They have one of the most talented and dedicated news staffs in the nation, I was proud to be a part of it. Not to mention they're some of my dearest friends."

While Tracy loved her work at WFLA, her association with the World Olympians Association brought her to the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, where once again she worked with the media.

While in Salt Lake City, Tracy was encouraged to take a media job with the USOC, so she take on a new sporting challenge: training for the Olympic Games in a new event: The Modern Pentathlon..

After her contract with NBC in Florida ended, Tracy moved out to Colorado Springs to train and write for several Olympic publications, focusing primarily on her favorite, World Olympian Magazine.

The Future
Tracy is now taking a short break from her News career to focus on the her Pentathlon training in the South of France. But as you can see from the past, it probably won't be too much longer before she finds her next media project. "I'm always excited to see what will happen next. I'm really looking forward to the Athens Olympics! Whether its as an athlete or with the media, I know it will be a great experience!"