Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK
The end is in sight. We have one more day of the Olympics before we can call it a wrap, pack our bags, and get back to our homes and families. My second-to-last day was mostly spent at the Water Cube, which was fitting as it is an arena where I spent many long days here in Beijing. The women’s synchro team free routine final was hopefully going to be a good one, with Russia looking to continue their domination by making it four in row at the Olympics. I had my underwater set-up still in the pool from the day before so it just made sense to shoot the actual final today as well. En route to setting up the remote I took some snaps of the team’s warming-up which is sometimes more interesting than the competition itself. It brought back memories of the Athens Olympics where I was given carte blanche to shoot synchro team practices without the use of any scuba gear. Times have changed… Reuters photographer Wolfgang Rattay and I checked the focus and framing of our cameras, and then we took some funny photos of each other in the pool. Good for the blog and to send home to the family!
Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK
Photograph by Wolfgang Rattay—REUTERS
Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK
Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK
Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK
As expected the Russians scored a near-perfect routine, and collected their 4th consecutive gold medal at the Olympics with Spain and China receiving the silver and bronze respectively. The biggest story of the night was when one of the Japanese synchronized swimmer, Kobayashi Hiromi, hyperventilated during the final and had to be pulled to the surface by a teammate. The large but quick Chinese lifeguards in matching Speedos did not hesitate to come to her aid and she was stretchered off. Hope she’s OK…The photos today were a little better than yesterday’s, so I was happy with that. But it was also good just to see all the guys at the pool who I only get to see at the big swimming events when we do our underwater thing. Part of me felt sad knowing it was my last day in the Cube, and the other part of me would be happy never stepping foot in the building again.
One more day to go!!!
Photograph by Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK
