Shot Put Gold Medal for Ryan Crouser

It seems to be a recurring them at these Olympics that I am covering sports that I have never photographed before. Even though this is my fifth Summer Olympics, there are just so many different sports happening at any one time, spread out in different locations, and that might conflict with other obligations I might have, I just can't do it all. 

Last week I was asked to photograph Ryan Crouser who was already a two-time gold medalist at shot put and going for his third gold here in Paris. And in case you didn't hear, he did indeed win a third gold last week.

Now...onto the images and the story.

I got down to the field of play and found a really good spot to photograph the athletes. All was good...until the Olympic Broadcast System (OBS) people showed up. As I mentioned before, everything here is prioritized for television, so they had no problem blocking us photographers. But I had to get photos of Ryan!

I shifted positions farther to my left where it looked like I could shoot through the crowd of OBS people and the agency photographers (the people in the blue vests who's companies pay big money for better access). I did some test shots on another athlete just to make sure it all worked out. There were a bunch of video lights in the background, but I liked that this added some interesting look and backlighting.

Then it was time for Ryan to make his first attempt. I cranked up the Canon R1 to 30 frames per second to guarantee myself images all the way through his progression. I could have even gone to 40fps or higher but felt that 30 would capture everything I needed here. I was using the Canon RF 100-300mm lens for all these photos.

I locked focus on his face, slammed down the shutter button and...

...the camera did the rest.

His first put (throw) was all he needed, with an amazing distance of 22.9m.

I think he knew he had a third gold medal coming!

The US coach was sitting right behind me, and in between their throws, the athletes would walk right over in my direction to get some advice.

These are some big boys.

Ryan came up for his second attempt, and this time the agency photographers already had their shots and they were outa there. 

More celebration.

What a great feeling this must be.

A light rain started falling and I loved that speckling the background with Crouser soaking it all in (pun intended).

Right before exiting the stadium, there was one last shot through the crowd of officials and OBS. I was happy to have so many nice photos of him doing what he does best.

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