Every few years as we settle in at home to immerse ourselves in the spectacle of the Olympics, we often forget the luxury we have to be able to witness it all at once. For journalists on the ground there is almost too much to conquer. Teams of reporters and photographers flock to the city to attempt to bring you every sport in a multitude of mediums.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]This year, photographer Robbie Lawrence traveled to Paris for TIME to capture the beauty and movement of athletics, and while his photographic approach could make almost any sport come alive, it is too much for one person to capture. “When I initially made the list of events I wanted to cover each day I imagined dodging between the likes of swimming, to dressage, to volleyball seamlessly, but realized very quickly that my ambitions were rather naïve,” says Lawrence, following his first week at the Olympics. “The events spread from the city’s regal center to Saint-Denis in the north to the great estate of Versailles in the west. Photographers spend just over two weeks charging from venue to venue, attempting to squeeze every visual opportunity from this vast array of performances.”
Many would think as an artist having your pick of events and locations would make the job easy—choose your favorites or the most popular. But, oftentimes they can find themselves fearing that if they go with one thing, they are missing out on the other. “After a fairly tortuous few days in which I experienced a perpetual state of fear of missing out, I eventually settled into a bit of a rhythm which allowed me to remember why I initially wanted to cover the Olympics,” says Lawrence.
When speaking about his influence and initial desire to capture an event like the Olympics, Lawrence says “I have always loved the likes of William Klein’s ‘The French’ and Ichikawas’ ‘Tokyo Olympiad’ because they looked beyond the sport and tapped into the human experience of these tournaments. Both directors focus on the attitude of the crowd as well as the athletes, providing a holistic sense of the emotional atmosphere.”
In the days following his arrival, Lawrence spent time immersed in the emotion of the Games—capturing images inches away from Simone Biles and Team USA preparing for their routines, or catching the moment that French President Emmuael Macron embraced French rugby star Antoine Dupont. “I have found myself drawn to that proximity – the closeness to the tension between joy and despair,” says Lawrence, “fundamentally that is what the Olympics is – years of training and emotional labor – hinged on a few seconds.”
