Sports photography has shaped our perceptions of athletes, competition, and victory by capturing some of the most memorable and revolutionary moments in history. These 30 striking pictures not only stopped time, but also changed how we see the drama, emotion, and significance of sports.
1. The Miracle On Ice
The US amateur ice hockey team shocked everyone by defeating the Soviet Union, the four-time defending champions, 4-3 at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Photographer Heinz Kluetmeier captured the victory, which was called a “miracle,” which paved the way for the US team to upset Finland a few days later and win gold.
2. The Birth Of The Paralympics
Ludwig Guttmann, a Jewish neurosurgeon who escaped Nazi Germany, founded the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948, which later became the Paralympic Games. The event, which started with 16 wounded service members participating in wheelchair archery at Stoke Mandeville Hospital near Aylesbury, England, was a first for spinal injury care.
3. Serena Triumphs
Photographer Corinne Dubreuil captured Serena Williams’ joyous celebration following her victory over Maria Sharapova at the 2013 French Open. Since starting her profession at the 1987 French Open with Chris Evert’s help, Dubreuil has been recording the tennis circuit.
4. Simone Biles’s Young Glory
At the 2016 US Classic, photographer Maddie Meyer took a picture of Simone Biles in front of Old Glory. Later that year, the 19-year-old became the first American woman gymnast to win four gold medals (plus a bronze). The Larry Nassar scandal rocked US gymnastics following the Rio Olympics when Biles testified that the former national team doctor had mistreated her.
5. Bannister Breaks The Four-Minute Mile
Roger Bannister ran the first mile in less than four minutes in 1954, setting a world record of 3:59.4. A milestone moment in athletic performance was marked when Norman Potter, an apprentice at Central Press, used his glass plate camera to capture the famous moment despite strong winds and the departure of most photographers.
6. Flo-Jo’s Golden Summer
Tony Duffy caught Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where she set unbreakable world records in the 100 and 200 meters. She and Gail Devers changed the perception of Black female athletes with ostentatious manicures. She was well-known for both her speed and her daring fashion sense. Even though Flo-Jo was a legend, doping accusations later clouded her legacy, and she died at the age of 38 from an epileptic seizure.
7. Megan Rapinoe Stands Up
Days after Donald Trump chastised Megan Rapinoe for stating she wouldn’t travel to the White House if the US women’s team won, she celebrated her historic goal in the 2019 World Cup quarterfinal matchup against France. As Elsa Garrison, the first female staff photographer at Getty Images, recalls vividly, the shot captured the thrilling moment of a high-stakes game and immortalized Rapinoe’s furious answer.
8. A Bad Day At Mount Hermon
Robert S. Van Fleet documented the bizarre scene of players and fans mostly oblivious to the fire as an American football game resumed on November 20, 1965, as a fire destroyed the science block at Mount Hermon prep school. The picture, which received a lot of attention, provoked conversations about how unnerving sports can be when they continue to play in the face of outside crises, evoking comparable historical events.
9. Pistorius Before The Fall
Oscar Pistorius, a renowned Paralympic sprinter, was born without fibulae and had his knee amputated as a baby. In 2012, he created history by placing second in the 400m at the London Olympics. But in 2014, he was convicted for ending the life of his partner, Reeva Steenkamp.
10. A New Way Of Seeing Sport
In 1960, veteran war photographer George Silk created this surreal portrait of a hammer thrower at the US Olympic tryouts for Life magazine. Silk was among the first to recognize the artistic possibilities of slit-scan photography, a technique that is still surprisingly uncommon in sports photography today and is more commonly used in photo-finish cameras for sprinting and horse racing.
11. Cathy Freeman Brings It Home
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Cathy Freeman won the gold medal in the 400-meter final in 49.11 seconds while donning a Nike “Swift Suit” that decreased aerodynamic drag. Freeman marked a significant milestone for the country by waving the Australian and Indigenous Australian flags during her winning lap.
12. Brett And Freddie
This poignant embrace between Andrew Flintoff and Brett Lee came at the end of a titanic Test match in 2005 when Australia fell three runs short of victory. As England erupted in celebration, Lee sank to his haunches and Flintoff crouched to offer consolation.
13. The Bodyline Tour
Harold Larwood, a fast bowler for England, used controversial “bodyline” tactics during the 1932–1933 Test series, hitting Australian players with quick deliveries that were aimed at their bodies rather than the wicket. Australia was incensed when one of these balls hit Bill Woodfull close to the heart, and another left Bert Oldfield with a concussion, but Larwood would not apologize. The stress is captured in this picture as Woodfull barely dodges a quick ball that is headed his way.
14. The Buzzer Beater
The frantic moment during Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference semi-finals, when Kawhi Leonard’s game-winning jumper helped the Toronto Raptors overcome the Philadelphia 76ers, is captured in this dramatic photograph that evokes a Flemish masterpiece. As the Raptors went on to win their first NBA championship, the shot clock reached zero and the substitutes looked on in shock as the ball fell into the basket. The picture went on to win a World Press Photo award.
15. The Age Of The Photo Finish
This image from the 1948 London Olympics 100-meter final demonstrates the usage of strip photography, which distorts the runners’ limbs by capturing the motion through a small slot in the camera. Despite Ewell’s hasty jubilation, the technology showed that Harrison Dillard had won by a mere 0.1 seconds.
16. The Grin Of Usain Bolt
This widely shared shot, taken by Cameron Spencer during the men’s 100-meter semi-finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, features Usain Bolt grinning as he casually pulls away from his competitors. Spencer captured a unique moment of impudence from the renowned sprinter, who had broken a world record of 9.58 seconds in 2009, by using a panning technique with a slow shutter speed to produce a motion blur effect that emphasized Bolt’s superiority and confidence.
17. Diego Maradona v Belgium
Diego Maradona appears to be up against a wall of Belgian defenders in this widely mythologized 1982 World Cup photo, which suggests that they are attempting to thwart his genius. Argentina lost 1-0 when Maradona lost possession just after the defenders were actually just shifting positions following a free kick.
18. Formula One Fireball
Jos Verstappen’s Benetton-Ford caught fire during a pit break at the 1994 German Grand Prix in Hockenheim, however, the flames were swiftly put out, leaving the driver and team with only minor injuries. This is a sobering reminder of the perils of motor racing during a season tainted by the untimely deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger in the San Marino Grand Prix.
19. John Barnes Backheels A Banana
John Barnes examines in his book The Uncomfortable Truth About Racism how his wealthy Jamaican background enabled him to avoid the bigotry he encountered while playing football, particularly the notorious incident in which he was attacked with a banana during a 1988 Merseyside derby.
20. Amarilla Veres And Jing Rong
Since its debut at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, wheelchair fencing has been a Paralympic sport. Six decades later, on the second day of the Tokyo 2020 Games (in 2021), Lintao Zhang took this breathtaking picture of Jing Rong representing China and Amarilla Veres representing Hungary in the women’s épée solo competition.
21. The Korbut Flip
At the 1972 Munich Olympics, Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut, then just 17 years old, wowed with a ground-breaking routine on the uneven bars that included the now-banned backflip. Photographer Gerry Cranham captured her audacious act, which astounded the audience, who laughed incredulously when she placed second with a score of 9.8.
22. King Ali
In 1966, photographer Neil Leifer used a remote camera set up above the ring to take what he believed to be his best aerial photograph of Muhammad Ali standing over Cleveland Williams. He treasures the picture so much that it is the only one of his own that is on display in his house. Williams is at the top of the diamond-shaped picture.
23. The 100-Foot Wave
Known as “the ocean’s Everest,” Nazaré is home to waves that break records, like the one that Garrett McNamara is surfing in this 2011 Tó Mané shot. Less than 18 months after riding a 78-foot wave for the first time, McNamara broke his own record with a contested 100-foot wave in the same waters.
24. The Super Bowl Helmet Catch
Eli Manning eluded tackles and threw a deep throw to David Tyree with 1:15 remaining in Super Bowl XLII. Tyree made the now-famous “Helmet Catch” while under defensive pressure. The Giants won their first Super Bowl since 1990 after taking advantage of this incredible play to score a game-winning touchdown.
25. Nadal Triumphs In Twilight
In a rain-delayed five-set thriller, Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in the 2008 Wimbledon final, which John McEnroe referred to as “the greatest match I’ve ever seen.” Graham Chadwick, a photographer for the Daily Mail, documented Rafael Nadal’s joyous ascent into the stands following his triumph, a custom initiated by Pat Cash in 1987.
26. Fosbury Flops
At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Dick Fosbury transformed the high jump by winning gold with his ground-breaking “Fosbury Flop” style, an arched-back leap that quickly supplanted conventional approaches. His method is still the norm in high jump competitions today, despite the fact that he never participated in another Olympics.
27. Mandela And Pienaar Unite South Africa
This photograph, which was taken at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final, depicts Nelson Mandela, the Black president of South Africa, congratulating Francois Pienaar, the white captain of the country while wearing the team’s springbok insignia, which was formerly a despised indication of Afrikaner superiority. For a fleeting moment, this new rainbow nation and the rest of the globe witnessed a vision of peace and hope.
28. Beamon Leaps Into History
British amateur photographer Tony Duffy captured the iconic picture of Bob Beamon’s 8.9-meter “leap of the century” during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. A tape measure had to be retrieved because the American athlete had ventured so deep into the sandpit that the judges’ measuring tool was insufficiently lengthy. Mike Powell’s 8.95-meter leap in 1991 would be the only one to surpass his record.
29. Phelps Makes It Seven
The official timekeeper Omega made a mistake and had to slow down the film to one frame every 10,000th of a second in order to determine that Michael Phelps (left) had defeated Milorad Cavic (right) of Serbia in the 100-meter butterfly final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Swiss former swimmer Patrick Kraemer, who specializes in underwater photography for aquatic sports, also captured the race’s dramatic final moments as Phelps frantically tried to outtouch Cavic’s glide to the wall.
