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Made In Wales Ian Cook's Olympic Adventures - part 1 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

by Ian Cook Published 01/10/2012

Jade Jones does a lap of honour after winning Taekwondo gold. Her emotional reaction after the bout was one of the highlights of the Games, never has a protective helmet been thrown so high! Her win lit up the town of Flint in North Wales.

Societies member, Ian Cook covered almost every day of the Olympics having the sort of access most people can only dream of. As so often, the reality was not quite as romantic as one might expect, relentless work, heavy payloads of gear interspersed with rushing about on an empty stomach, and the ever-present hassle of getting access through the security systems. Professional Imagemaker kept in touch throughout and was privileged to see each day's work as it was uploaded to the CameraSport website. At the end of it all, Mike McNamee interviewed Ian. He had recovered a little but even so he was already back in the saddle covering soccer games! Here is the story:

We are indebted to Steve White of CameraSport and Ian Cook for permission to use the images in this feature. All images © Ian Cook, CameraSport, 2012

Great Britain's Jessica Ennis just after the 100m hurdles of the women's heptathlon. Her time would have won gold in the individual event at Beijing, quite remarkable for a heptathlete! She went on to win gold, cementing her position as one of the most loved and recognised faces of London 2012.

For athletes, competing in a home Olympics cannot get any better. Is the same true for photographers and how did this gig rate alongside others that you have done?

Well I have covered the Ryder Cup, football internationals, FA Cup finals, etc, but the Olympics are above all this as it's the biggest sporting event in the world. Like everything I do, I try to not get too caught up in the hype because it can become an unnecessary distraction. Of course I was privileged that CameraSport saw me as one of the photographers who would represent the company at the Olympics. If you asked a journalist friend of mine who was also there he would probably tell you I was a miserable sod. It was not that I did not like being there; I had a job to do and wanted to get it done well despite the obstacles that inevitably arose every day. Sorry, but that's just me, I was the same at the Ryder Cup. One thing that events like this are really good for is you get to meet other working photographers, and we are all in the same boat; we are all working as hard as we can and are mostly running on adrenaline.

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