By Cooper Hall
Hanging on the wall in a house in Charlotte is a picture of the Tower Bridge in London glowing gold, after Great Britain won gold at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. Walls and shelves throughout the rest of the house carry more pieces of the Olympics. There’s a real Olympic torch from the Rio Games. There are framed tickets from the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. There is a pink 3D printed Olympic medal.
This house belongs to Kristen McMillen, a lifelong Olympic superfan. At 37 years old, the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics are the 6th Games she has been to, attending every one that spectators were allowed at since the London 2012 Summer Olympics.
“The Olympics are just kind of almost like this shining beam of hope and reminder that we’re all sort of one at the end of the day,” McMillen said.
Her dream of being at the Olympics started as she climbed over her couch in Kansas City, Mo., at 6 years old while watching “The Magnificent Seven.” She begged her parents to put her into gymnastics, and as soon as she started, she decided that she would go to the Olympics one day, whether it was as an athlete or as a fan.
“I knew I wanted to go to the Olympics and I knew that I was not going to let anything stop me getting to that dream,” McMillen said.
At school, her teacher gave her class an assignment to make a list of 20 things they wanted to do by the time they were 50 years old. McMillen included going to the Olympics on hers. Her teacher gave her an F and asked her to redo the list because it was an unrealistic goal.
Despite being told it was an impossible dream, McMillen attended her first Olympics, the 2012 Games in London, right after she graduated from college. She was in her early 20s, she was debt-free and she was asking herself what was stopping her from achieving her lifelong dream.
So, in an unreal haze, she booked her tickets.
It didn’t sink in until she saw the Olympic Rings at the airport as she got off her flight. The first event she went to was women’s gymnastics.
“When I stepped in the stadium for the first time in one of the arenas, it was like, okay, this isn’t on TV anymore. This is real life,” McMillen said. “And I was just sort of, you kind of get overwhelmed by that moment. I wish I could go back to that because it was such a cool moment.”
McMillen’s goal is to break the record for most Olympics ever attended, a record currently held by Harry Nelson, who spectated at 19 Summer Games. More than that, however, simply the buzz in the air at the Olympics is enough to have McMillen packing her bags every two years.
McMillen has kept going to the Olympics year after year in search of the experiences you miss out on when you watch the Games from your couch at home.
Every Olympics she has been to has been unique in its own way and has stamped stories and memories on her heart that she carries forward with her.
At the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, she collected pictogram beer cups. At the 2012 Games, she saw McKayla Maroney make her famous “not impressed” face after winning a silver medal in vault. In Milan, she was seated next to the president of USA Curling at dinner and got to greet the Swedish mixed doubles curling team at her hotel after they won gold.
More than the experiences, McMillen is addicted to the atmosphere of harmony that comes with the Olympics. She loves the way the Olympics can bring people together, unlike any other sporting event. She feels like, even though everyone is rooting for their own country, there is no real winner or loser. She gets just as excited for a Swedish athlete to win gold as she does when an American athlete wins.
As an American, McMillen was uneasy coming to this year’s Olympics. While travelling, she’s found that you are viewed as whoever your country’s leader is, and she wasn’t sure she would be accepted with the same Olympic love this year as she had been so many times before.
However, for McMillen, the unprecedented human symphony experienced for two and a half weeks during the Olympics has extended to even the deepest of divides this year. Through several conversations about politics in the United States, she has experienced nothing but understanding.
“You get to show people and kind of talk to people here in Italy and, you know, people all over the world, basically, you get to show a different image of what they see on TV, which I think is very important,” she said.
For McMillen, the Olympics have always been special, a brief moment of soft respite from the harsh world. The moment she steps into a stadium, she can feel a powerful swell of hope, the accumulation of the athlete’s years of hard work and dedication, the family’s faithful support, the fans’ passion.
Every two years, when she hightails it to a new city for another dose of Olympic spirit, she leads with an open heart and open mind, ready to be blown wherever the wind takes her. Her advice to first-time attendees is to cultivate that same attitude in themselves.
“It’s truly incredible because you’re all kind of coming together for these two, three weeks or whatever it is right, and you’re rooting for athletes that you know have worked their entire lives for this,” McMillen said. “It brings a sense of unity and a sense of peace and a sense of we’re all kind of one coming together.”
