"Great images do not necessarily show winners. They can be shot during practise sessions, such as the image of Jarkko Ala-Huikku, the wrestler. Likewise, the images are not of the biggest names or the brightest stars: I work for a Finnish newspaper, so naturally I follow mostly the Finnish athletes.
However, there is no way I can pass Michael Phelps nor Usain Bolt. Their performances were something of an epic proportion, I simply could not let them out. But of them, during the past weeks we have - frankly - seen images much more captivating than mine. Understandable, as they are all the time - and I mean ALL THE TIME - on focus of dozens, if not hundreds of cameras.
Best images are not always from the moments of success. Tero Pitkämäki lifting the flag up (page 2 of this same paper) reflects in my eyes how the flag weighs a ton on his shoulders (He was by far the most likely to win gold of the Finnish athletes , and he got bronze). The look on Henri Häkkinen's face as he glances the scoreboard , right after the last shot totally gone wrong really focuses on the drama of the competition.
Sometimes the best images are not of the athletes at all. Personally, one of my favorites is actually of the Olympic Rings, where Asafa Powell, tiny figure stepping on the first one, is leading his team towards the goldmedal. Backgrounds are not not coincidental in the Olympics: they are thought very carefully beforehand and constitute an essential part of a good and captivating image.
Sometimes the key-element is simply the fast shutterspeed. Drops of sweat flying off Rafael Nadal or forms of water on Hanna-Maria Seppälä's face as she succesfully finishes off her heat in 100 meter freestyle make the image.
But as I contemplate back the past three weeks, what do I really remember? Sports and the moments of glory seem to fade to the background.
The young girl posing during the first days of the games in front of the statues, a Coke-bottle in her hand, symbolizes a lot, if you for a moment stop to think about the present day China. The little fellow wearing no pants in the Forbidden City still makes me smile.
But, maybe the image which has most vividly remained in my mind is that of the little chinese girl, in a yellow raincoat. She played with other children among the fountains, which sprayed water synched to music, right outside the Birdsnest. Dark, sweet, warm summer evening in Beijing. Like if she did not know that she would get totally soaked. And she enjoyed every second of it.
If, in my mind, I could take back home only one image from these games, it would be the image of this little girl."
Beijing 24.8.2008 / Kari Kuukka
This is a spread I wrote for Iltalehti the last evening of the Beijing Olympics. I'm happy the paper gave me opportunity to do this and I actually got some nice feedback on it. (The translation is not 100% accurate).