What's with the flags?

This is what the flag-raising at the medal ceremony looks like when two athletes tie for silver.  Gold medalist Yannick Agnel of France led from wire to wire to won with a time of 1:43.14. The silver medal was shared by Taehwan Park of South Korea and Yang Sun of China, who both touched the wall in 1:44.93.  No bronze medal was awarded.  This situation made me question how the Olympic committee planned for such things.  Do they have three big bins of medals they draw from when awarding winners?  "Hey Fred, go get me a gold and two silvers.  What? - No.  No bronze and no fries with that either."  I always assumed there were a limited/exact number of medals produced for the Games.  Any one want to research the answer to this and post the answer? 

And if I were China, I'd ask why my flag was below the South Korean flag even though the athletes swam the exact same time and both won silver.

Things you don't see on TV

Missy Franklin of the USA had less than 20 minutes between her 200m freestyle semifinal qualifying race and 100m butterfly finals.  Immediately after qualifying for the 200m freestyle finals, she sneaked into the diving pool at the far end of the arena for a few practice strokes.

It paid off as she went on to win gold in the 100m backstroke with a time of 58.33

No, I can't actually "watch" the event

People have asked if I can "watch" the event as it's happening.  The answer is usually no.  See the following photos, for example.  My camera was trained on Breeja Larson for the entire race because she is an athlete from Texas and therefore important to the hometown newspaper.  I wanted to capture her reaction immediately after the race and this is what I got - her looking at the scoreboard in disappointment as winner Ruta Meilutyte raises her arms in triumph.  I didn't have a chance to look up at the scoreboard or watch the entire field to know the results until after taking these shots.

It took me a moment to focus on the winner, Ruta Meilutyte, but it turned out to be an interesting shot because the two Americans on either side of an emotional Meilutyte are left stunned and slack-jawed at the performance of the 15-year-old Lithuanian. 

Premium Seats

I sat about as close to the starting blocks as you can to shoot swimming last night - front row, in fact.  The seats in my section were obvious very, very expensive  - provided you could even get them.  This guy sitting two rows behind me could afford them.

Dana Vollmer sets a new world record of 55.98 seconds to win the Gold for the 100m Butterfly

                                                        

Ohhh and Ahhh!

Transportation Woes

Media folks are already grousing about the terrible transportation.  A fellow photographer was riding an Olympic bus from a competition venue back to the Main Press Center this afternoon and he was delayed because the bus got into a fender bender. 
After I shot the opening ceremony fireworks, half-filled buses circled around the Olympic Park without stopping at the Aquatic Center to pick up media.  I ended up walking to the nearest Underground station and took that back to the hotel, walking into my room at about 2:30am. 

Boom!

Half an hour before Opening Ceremonies Kick Off

. . . and it's has started to rain. I am currently at the Aquatics Center where I will attempt to shoot the fireworks from this vantage point. A bunch of photographers have just bolted out of the photo work room to cover the cameras they set up earlier. It's going to be a long, long night.

Sat at a table with 10 other photographers

. . . for a late-night bite to eat and drinks. Between the 11 of us, we had covered 69 Olympics, with two each having covered 14. Wow.

Wait-listed

No I'm not applying to university, but I am wait-listed for a credential to shoot the Opening Ceremony from outside of the Olympic Stadium. This has nothing to do with a lack of space. It has everything to do with the tight security. The Olympic organizers simply don't want people having free access to the grounds surrounding the stadium. Things kick off in just 32 hours and I still don't know if I'll be shooting the festivities or watching them on TV. Welcome to the London Games.

We Have Lift Off

Jonathan Horton of the Team USA Men's Gymnastic Team rises well above the horizontal bar during podium training. This is the one opportunity the athletes have to perform on the exact equipment they will use during competition.

Those guys have all the best toys

Went to Aquatics (swimming and diving) venue yesterday. The hardcore guys who shoot swimming were there setting up their gear. It was like watching a Jacques Cousteau documentary. They had huge, water-proof enclosures for their gear and were getting checked for their Paddy certification. Today will be the first day I shoot. I will attend the men's gymnastics podium practice. It will be a chance for the athletes to perform on the exact equipment they will use in competition.

Just finished Photographers' Meeting

Photographers are going to get squeezed for space for two main reasons this Olympics: 1. TV rules and have brought their 3D cameras, eating up even more of the premium spots. 2. Many of the venues are old and cramped. This is going to be a HUGE challenge.

Sitting at the Gate for my flight to London

With several members of the Samoan Olympic team. Don't know which sport, but pretty sure not pixy-sized gymnasts.

Covering the Olympics again

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