Conquering Rio

Andy Blackmore, former picture editor of the Metro, asks five sports photographers and picture editors to choose their favourite image from the Rio Olympics.

It might seem improbable, but in recent years, I haven’t really enjoyed the Olympics. Yes, I watched them – I had to – but for me the spectacle has merely been part of the job.

It’s a challenging task being a picture editor, constantly juggling agendas, coping with disorientating time differences, losing hair over the often accelerated deadlines, amd all the while dealing with hundreds of thousands of images. The Greatest Show on Earth can be quite a marathon – one that’sendured rather than enjoyed.

However, this time I was relegated to the sidelines – and it was a blessing in disguise. I had an epiphany. Not only did it give me a chance to view the event anew and discover an enthusiasm for sports I never knew existed, it also gave a budding armchair athlete the chance to savour the stunning photographs from Team GB’s best games in more than 100 years. What’s more, I even had time to ask some of Fleet Street’s finest to pick their favourite shots…

Andre Camara 

The Times

‘The first time that I photographed Usain Bolt, he had just won the 100m final. However, he didn’t celebrate that much as he crossed the line – just a serious expression while holding one finger up, followed by a very quick bang on his chest, which didn’t produce much emotion.

‘The next time I photographed him was in the 200m final, when he really celebrated as he crossed the line, and I was straight onto him. This powerful moment that I captured formed only a fraction of a second among others that I caught, but it was at the peak of his jubilation.