LONDON OLYMPICS – Day 2 Judo Lightweights Attack

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While riding on the Jubilee line of the underground today late as usual, I was reading the photographers manual (A thick booklet printed by LOCOG that like the Photographers handguide and Olympic bible) and saw that I was passing the Judo venue and there was two gold medal matches about to start. I spontaneously jumped off the train and ran a good 3/4 miles with 75 lbs of camera and computer gear to get to the Excel Arena minutes before the martial artists “kicked off”. Ended up being a good decision because I witnessed a little history as Russia won a gold medal for the first time in Olympic Judo History thanks to Olympian Arsen Galstyan. Galstyan was able to defeat Japanese super medalist Hiroaki Hiraoka in the finals. And then in an unexpected Olympic moment, Galstyan ran directly toward me and I thought he was coming to hug me and sitting right behind me was his family. I was literally caught in the middle of a group hug without any wide angle lens to shoot the great moment, but apparently I got a good 15 seconds of TV time instead. In Women’s 48-kilogram Judo, 22-year-old Brazilian Sarah Menezes defeated the defending Olympic champion Alina Dumitru. It was a heated battle while both contenders worked hard to get a dominate grip, but Menezes was able to throw Dumitru and secure the gold. Here are the pics, hope you enjoy and please chime in with comments too I would love to hear them!!!

Screen shot of me (left smiling) stuck in a gold medalist hug….

LONDON OLYMPICS – Day 2 Phelps Misses Medal #17, Lochte strikes Gold

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First night of Swimming Finals at the Pool was without drama as Phelps in a position he is not used to got knocked off the podium in the 400m IM and finished in 4th! Ryan Lochte struck gold in the Men’s 400-meter Individual Medley and utterly defeated Michael Phelps, who did not look like himself. Lochte finished with a time of 4:05.18, which is the second fastest only to Phelps’ world and Olympic record 4:03.84 from Beijing. Excellent performance from Ryan Lochte, and I’m sure Phelps will find his 17th soon, maybe on sunday in the Medley Relay…Great to see the Getty crew of Al Bello, Adam Pretty, and Clive Rose and the rest of the familiar faces I see on the pool deck every four years. I love shooting swimming and it feels great to be at the pool again. Here are some of the photos from today, hope you enjoy and as always your feedback and comments are appreciated!!!