Women's Gymnastics Team Finals
This was a truly epic sporting event. It was very tense. The weight of 1.4 billion people rested on the shoulders of six young women whose combined weight is about 400 lbs.
You could close your eyes and know exactly what was taking place. Competing fans chanted and cheered for their teams. American fans chanted, "USA," "USA," and Chinese fans chanted something I couldn't quite make out. The fact that the Chinese and the US were in the same group upped the drama even more.
Actually, it was two dramas playing in tandem. For Cheng Fei of China, it was a story of redemption. She fell off the balance beam in the third rotation to open the door for US team to make up the 1 point lead China held at the time. As fate would have it, Cheng was the last gymnast to perform on floor exercise, the final apparatus, and scored a solid 15.45 to insure the Chinese team victory. I have a photo of her eruption of joy and release of emotion. It was a “wow” moment for me behind the camera.
For Alicia Sacramone, it was a Greek tragedy. She was first on the balance beam and fell almost immediately. I didn’t see this live as I was shooting a Japanese gymnast on the uneven bars, but the gasp of the crowd and sudden tension in the air told me all I needed to know. I looked up from my camera and Sacramone was standing on the mat next to the beam. The textbook description of a Greek tragedy is that tragedy stresses the vulnerability of human beings whose suffering is brought on by a combination of human and divine actions, but is generally undeserved with regard to its harshness. The harshness continued when Sacramone fell on her second tumbling pass of her floor exercise. I’m not sure if NBC captured it, but she was in tears on the bench and had to bite her lip throughout the medal ceremony to keep from crying. I truly feel bad for her. From what I’m told, she’s a nice young lady with a good head on her shoulders. Now sadly, even if she goes on to accomplish great things in her life, it’s likely she will be known for her falling off the beam at the Olympics. The irony is that even if she had stayed on the beam and on her feet for her floor exercise, the Chinese would likely have still won. Check out the Chron.com site as Smiley made some incredible photos on the U.S. women’s side. Immediately after taking pictures, the photographers all rush into the photo office at the venue to download photos from their flash cards and upload them to the newspaper or magazine back home (where ever that might be). There is a lull while we wait for the photos to upload. At this time, there is a lot of banter about this and that and we look over each other’s shoulders to peek at laptop screens to see what pictures our colleagues have made. More than one stopped to admire his shots. Don’t miss them.
You could close your eyes and know exactly what was taking place. Competing fans chanted and cheered for their teams. American fans chanted, "USA," "USA," and Chinese fans chanted something I couldn't quite make out. The fact that the Chinese and the US were in the same group upped the drama even more.
Actually, it was two dramas playing in tandem. For Cheng Fei of China, it was a story of redemption. She fell off the balance beam in the third rotation to open the door for US team to make up the 1 point lead China held at the time. As fate would have it, Cheng was the last gymnast to perform on floor exercise, the final apparatus, and scored a solid 15.45 to insure the Chinese team victory. I have a photo of her eruption of joy and release of emotion. It was a “wow” moment for me behind the camera.
For Alicia Sacramone, it was a Greek tragedy. She was first on the balance beam and fell almost immediately. I didn’t see this live as I was shooting a Japanese gymnast on the uneven bars, but the gasp of the crowd and sudden tension in the air told me all I needed to know. I looked up from my camera and Sacramone was standing on the mat next to the beam. The textbook description of a Greek tragedy is that tragedy stresses the vulnerability of human beings whose suffering is brought on by a combination of human and divine actions, but is generally undeserved with regard to its harshness. The harshness continued when Sacramone fell on her second tumbling pass of her floor exercise. I’m not sure if NBC captured it, but she was in tears on the bench and had to bite her lip throughout the medal ceremony to keep from crying. I truly feel bad for her. From what I’m told, she’s a nice young lady with a good head on her shoulders. Now sadly, even if she goes on to accomplish great things in her life, it’s likely she will be known for her falling off the beam at the Olympics. The irony is that even if she had stayed on the beam and on her feet for her floor exercise, the Chinese would likely have still won. Check out the Chron.com site as Smiley made some incredible photos on the U.S. women’s side. Immediately after taking pictures, the photographers all rush into the photo office at the venue to download photos from their flash cards and upload them to the newspaper or magazine back home (where ever that might be). There is a lull while we wait for the photos to upload. At this time, there is a lot of banter about this and that and we look over each other’s shoulders to peek at laptop screens to see what pictures our colleagues have made. More than one stopped to admire his shots. Don’t miss them.
posted by huja at 10:46 PM
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