After the Covid affected Olympics in Tokyo, Paris 2024 saw the return of packed stadiums, venues and also photographer enclosures. Among the 1,578 accredited photographers were three covering the Games for the Guardian and Observer.
How would I describe photographing the Paris Olympics? Quite simply “c’est magnifique, c’est incroyable.” It was a wonderful Games, an intoxicating blend of incredible action taking place in the most stunning venues. I can forgive the Paris metro for its lack of escalators, which meant lugging all my gear around was a very sweaty task, because everywhere there was cat-nip for the photographer. At times it felt almost too much, you wanted to be everywhere at the same time, pushing yourself to extremes to get the pictures on offer. After the last two disappointing summer Games, this was back to the sort of Olympics the IOC wanted and needed. And how they succeeded, the organisers pulling out all the stops to make sure it was such a visual treat. At the end of it all, despite all the amazing athletes on show doing phenomenal things, the real star of the Games was the city itself.
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Sprinter Kimia Yousofi of Afghanistan displays a message on the back of her name badge saying “Education, Sport, Our Rights” after competing in her 100m preliminary round (above left), The Eiffel Tower is seen during a light display at the opening ceremony (above right). Robin Godel of Switzerland on Grandeur De Lully reflected in the Ménagerie Pond during the eventing cross-country at the Palace of Versailles (below).
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Manon Apithy-Brunet of France celebrates beating Sabine Choi of Korea before going on to win gold in the women’s individual fencing sabre (above left), Ramiro Mora Romero of the Refugee Team, who lives and trains in Britain, celebrates with the crowd after successfully completing his final lift in the clean and jerk of the weightlifting 102kg competition (above right).
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Tom Daley is kissed by his British diving partner Noah Williams after winning silver medals in the diving 10m synchronised event (above), Gavin Bottger of Team USA in the preliminaries of the men’s park skateboard competition (below).
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Fermín López points to the badge on his shirt as Spain celebrate their fifth goal in the dying minutes of extra time of the gold medal match against France (above left), President Macron wipes the tears away from the face of Romane Dicko of France after she won a bronze medal in the women’s 78kg judo competition (above right), Armand Duplantis of Sweden sprints down the runway on his way to breaking the world record in the final of the men’s pole vault (below).
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Imane Khelif of Algeria kisses her gold medal during the presentation ceremony after the final of the women’s 66kg boxing (above). Simone Biles performs on the uneven bars during the final of the women’s gymnastics all-around team event in which the United States won gold (below left), Kieran Reilly of Great Britain performs a trick during his silver medal-winning performance at the men’s BMX freestyle final.
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Novak Djokovic is overcome with emotion when winning an Olympic gold medal after his victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s singles tennis final (above), competitors in the women’s kayak cross event splash into the water off the ramp at the start of their in the quarter-final at the Vaires-Sur-Marne Nautical Stadium (below).
I hardly ever shoot sport but having covered the London Olympics in 2012 I knew roughly what was in store for me in Paris for the next two and a half weeks – a brutal schedule photographing unfamiliar athletes engaging in sports I know little or nothing about, inside strange, complex venues strewn around a city baking in summer heat. Early starts, late finishes, no days off, endless editing, daily double backups, complex logistics and travel planning. Not to mention the constant battles to get my work published in competition with literally the world’s greatest sports photographers … And yet, in the face of all these struggles and challenges (and as I knew it would be), photographing the 2024 Paris Olympic Games was an utterly exhilarating, emotional and life-affirming experience.
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Thank God I arrived in Paris via Eurostar on the Thursday, because by Friday morning protesters had staged a coordinated arson attack on the country’s railways, virtually bringing the whole network to a near standstill. So, the first stop on my Olympic journey was to the chaotic Gare Montparnasse to capture images of poor stranded Parisians and tourists.
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Under a burning sun I saw what I thought at the time to be the first Team GB gold medal win (as it happened another gold had just been won in eventing) courtesy of Tom Pidcock’s incredulous last-lap snatch over France’s Victor Koretzky in mountain biking at Elancourt Hill on the outskirts of Paris. I melted for half the race facing the finish line with the Olympic rings in the background, waiting for this shot.
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I was not particularly excited about rowing, but this turned out to be my best day of the Games so far. I went off-piste and found a good position up in the stands (as opposed to the official photo-position at the river’s edge) to see not just the race finish, but also the contestants as they celebrated or collapsed (or both) on the jetty in front of me.
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My second stab at photographing Simone Biles, an athlete who seemed to be drawing global attention towards the Bercy Arena in Paris for her jaw-dropping acrobatic displays, courtesy of the armies of photographers who were vying for top spots and pinging their images to news desks around the world.
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The next day was I was back at the Bercy again (I was there five times by the end of the Games, more than any other venue) to see Team GB’s Bryony Page win gold and have fun beforehand with some camera twists, turns and long exposures during the qualification round. Later that evening there was a trip up the Eiffel Tower to photograph the men’s beach volleyball from a very elevated position.
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I managed to get myself into a pool position (usually reserved for agency photographers) at Paris La Défense Arena to see America’s Katie Ledecky win her fourth consecutive gold medal in the women’s 800m freestyle event (12 years after she won her first one at London 2012). Getting a pool positions changes everything, enabling a straight down-the-line vantage to shoot swimmers head-on as they charge down the lane. This shot was taken at the very top of the race when the pool water was very still, creating a forcefield-like dome of water to gather around her head as lunged forward from the pool’s edge.
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I travelled all the way out to the Golf National, just to shoot Tommy Fleetwood tee off first on the last day of play of the men’s individual golf, when he was one shot behind the lead. Positioned on the bank behind the first tee, I used my monopod to get further elevation in order get the crowds surrounding the tee in shot.
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I shot this image with the cameraman’s gaze forming part of the composition, but due to the page design, he was cropped out when the image used in the paper. So here he is, in all his glory!
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Heptathletes Anna Hall of the United States (top) and Great Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson (above left) compete in the javelin leg of the women’s heptathlon, Taliyah Brooks of the United States competes in the long jump (above right) and (below) Johnson-Thompson competes in the shot put, where she recorded a personal best.
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The absolute, hands-down highlight of my Paris Olympics. I fought so hard to just get a ticket to enter the Bercy Arena for the final of the men’s basketball competition between France and the US (this was a ticketed, high-demand event with priority going to French and American photographers). Once in, I schmoozed my way from my allocated tabled press position in the gods (not even a photo position) first, down to the stands, then to the field of play and finally, for the last quarter, into the sweetest prime A1 photo position in the whole house (which had just been vacated by the official NBA photographer). This, all after being told on Saturday morning that I had not got my intended ticket to the game via the normal channels. The hard work really paid off as I captured this shot of the great LeBron James swinging on the hoop, post-dunk, right in front of me.
David Bowie once said that, as a creator, “when you can’t feel your feet touching the bottom, then you’re about to do something exciting.” That was how it felt when the Guardian asked if I could cover my first Olympic competition. I’m a portraits and features photographer, so this, for me, was definitely the deep end. I could have panicked, but was reassured by the team, and went on to photograph Team GB’s gold-performance at Versailles, Andy Murray’s swansong at Roland Garros, a first-ever gold medal for Ireland in the gymnastics, plus gravity-defying climbers, divers and breakdancers. I think my most cherished moment was the men’s 10,000m at the Stade de France, hearing the roar from the crowd as they turned into their final lap, and deep down, my own teenage memories of running down that finishing straight. Covering the Olympics was a marathon, and I’m proud to have run alongside so many other talented photographers.
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Tourists and Parisians came out to watch the opening ceremony but discovered that without tickets, they couldn’t get to the river Seine, and couldn’t see anything of the show except on big screens. The mood varied between disappointment and anger, and a few tried to keep a brave face.
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Britain’s Andy Murray and Dan Evans celebrate, and Murray signs autographs, after they won their epic men’s doubles second-round match against Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.
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Lin Yu Ting, the Chinese Taipei boxer and two-time world champion, takes to the ring for her fight against Turdibekova Sitora of Uzbekistan. Like Algeria’s Khelif, Lin was disqualified from last year’s women’s world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA), after it said both boxers had failed unspecified gender tests.
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The competitors in the men’s 10,000m final round a bend; after the race, South Africa’s Adriaan Wildschutt points to the scoreboard to show US athlete Grant Fisher he has just won the bronze medal.
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Park Tae-joon of South Korea reels from a kick by France’s Cyrian Ravet of France before going on to win their mens 58kg taekwondo quarter-final (above left); the historic Grand Palais hosted the taekwondo finals; Iran’s Nahid Kiyanichanden is consoled after being beaten by South Korea’s Kim Yu-in in their 57kg gold medal bout (below).
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B-Boy Dany Dann of France (top) and United States B-Boy Jeffro (above left) perform during the breaking round-robin matchs at the Place de la Concorde.
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Erin McNeice of Team GB (above right) and Janja Garnbret (below) in action during the women’s boulder climbing finals where the Slovenian won gold.