Alexi PAPPAS
Olympian Artist - Film: PyeongChang 2018
Olympic Games:
Rio 2016
Athletics (10km, 5km)
Alexi Pappas is a Greek-American athlete and an award-winning writer and filmmaker.
Alexi competed in the Rio Olympic Games, setting a national record for Greece in the 10km with a time of 31:36, and is now training for Tokyo Games. Alexi has become known around the world for her voice of positivity and confidence, especially for young women: the New York Times named her as one of their "8 Olympians Who've Got Social Media Game" alongside Simone Biles, Usain Bolt, and Ning Zetao. She has been profiled in the New York Times, New York Magazine, NPR, and Rolling Stone. She was featured on the cover of Runner's World Magazine 50th Anniversary issue and was named the face of the "New Boom" in running. The Hollywood Reporter calls her a "hard-to-resist blend of Audrey Hepburn and Joan Cusack."
As a filmmaker, Alexi co-wrote, co-directed, and stars in the feature film Tracktown which was produced with support from the Sundance Institute and premiered at the 2016 Los Angeles Film Festival. Most recently she co-created Speed Goggles, a 5-episode short film series in partnership with Kodak published by the New York Times, with a focus on elite athletes preparing for the Rio Olympics. She is in the process of writing a book of essays with support from one of the top literary agencies in the world, Inkwell Management. She is a "hard-to-resist blend of Audrey Hepburn and Joan Cusack".
Q&A
It was a life changing experience to be at an Olympic Games as an artist after having competed as an athlete. When I competed in my first Olympics in Rio, I was very focused on my competition and loved my time in Rio so much, but in Korea I truly immersed myself in the community of athletes there. I felt lucky to be back in the places where I feel most at home: in the Village and in the dining hall.
The Olympian Artists programme opens the doors to expressing the Olympic experience in a new way. I feel grateful that the Olympic Committee believes in me as an athlete and artist --- I am even more inspired to continue my art and also train for the 2020 Olympics!!!!
Our goal is to make a film that athletes will want to show their children to say: "this is what it felt like to actually be there." It's different from watching television coverage of their competitions or the official Olympic Film. It's a movie that captures the emotions and experience of the complete Olympic Athlete experience, including life backstage and between competitions.
One of the first days we were there we were filming a scene outside in the Olympic Plaza and it was so cold and windy that within minutes, none of us could feel our hands or feet. The camera even froze! Soon we'd learn our way around and the entire city of PyeongChang would come to feel like a second home.
Filming before and during opening ceremonies. The emotion of that moment hits me every time.
I now have a much deeper appreciation for the Olympics than ever before. I wouldn't have thought that was possible after my experience competing in Rio, but now that I've had a chance to peek "behind the curtain" and learn more about the countless moving pieces that come together to create the Games every two years, I am even more acutely aware of the immense passion, creativity, and dedication that goes into the Olympics.
I'm especially proud of all the scenes where real Winter Olympians act alongside Nick Kroll (my co-star) and myself. The athletes, many of whom had never acted before, did a fantastic job and were such a pleasure to work with.
I feel strongly that the Olympics is a specific, unique, experience, but is universally relatable. Also, I feel that all athletes are kindred with one another.
I wouldn't change a thing. So many amazing moments happened serendipitously that I never could have planned or imagined in advance -- if I were to go back and do it again, some of those chance events might not happen again! That's what makes this project (and the Olympics) so special! They exist in their own unique way, and they also live on forever.