olympic.

2013 International Olympic Academy Application 

Portia Favro 

Portia casually "Bolting" at CTV Olympics HQ (August 2012) 

Unlike most fathers, my dad is not a sports man. However, every two years the Favro Family household became Olympics Central. 

Every television is turned to a different spoting event, and my family, clad in our Olympic gear, fully submit ourselves into the Games. 

As a little girl, I dreamed of being an Olympic figure skater or gymnast, but being an elite athlete wasn’t in the cards for me. 

Little did I know, the Olympics still were. 

Upon graduating from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2012, I was brought on to co-lead the social media team for Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Consortium, CTV Olmypics throughout the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

I spent the summer searching for Olympic trends, snapping photos and uploading them to Instagram, tweeting live events (like Usain Bolt’s 100 metre and Michael Phelps last race) and interacting with Canadian fans on our Facebook page. 

After London 2012, my eyes were opened to a completely new world of sport with the Paralympics. From a social media angle, this was the first time many in the Paralympic community had a voice. The achievements of so many athletes who had overcome various disabilities has changed the way I live my life. If these people can do this, I have no excuse not to jump at every opportunity that comes by. 

CTV Olmypics London 2012 Team 

I would love to attend the 2013 International Olympic Academy’s International Session of Educators this summer and learn as even more about the Games and share my knowledge about covering live events through social media.

I would especially be interesting in raising awareness and creating even more of a conversation about the Paralympics. 

Below are photos are from the Olympic Parade of Heroes in downtown Toronto (September 2012) and video from an opportunity I had to perform in a flash mob for the Canadian Olympic Committee (November 2012). 

London 2012 Torch (Photo by Portia Favro) 

Paralympian Summer Mortimer and Olympian Adam van Koeverden (Photo by Portia Favro)

Canada's London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Atheletes (Photo by Portia Favro)


Portia Favro performing in a flash mob for the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian athletes of Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and potentials for Sochi 2014. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

london2012.

I have to take a second and take this all in.

I'm so thankful, excited and pumped to be a part of a once-in-a-lifetime event. London 2012. For months, this has been on my mind.

Tomorrow, it really begins.

If you've been following CTV Olympics on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google +, you can see that we've been busy this week. With athletes arriving in London and pictures/stories being shared instantly, our fingers have all been flying off the keyboards.

It's truly awesome to be sitting with a team of people from all walks of life (and all over the world) who are cheering, yelling and working every event, game, match and heat.

This is just the beginning. Tomorrow's Opening Ceremony will unlock a whole new kind of Olympics - the #Socolympics.

I'm in the front seat with an awesome team behind me. I can't wait to take in this 17 day ride.

Go Canada go!