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Another step on the Olympic Journey.

 

“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”

–      John Wooden

Please respect the copyright of the images and text in this posting.

I begin the first posting of the New Year on the train, heading for the ‘London Prepares’ test event for Gymnastics.

Max Whitlock (Great Britain) the youngest member of the team, competing on Parallel Bars at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Not only is this a great opportunity for the organisers to test their preparations for The Games but it is also a final chance for many gymnasts to achieve the qualification standard set down by the FIG.

Kristian Thomas (Great Britain) concentrates before competing on Pommel Horse at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Not least amongst these will be the British Men’s team who, to everyone’s surprise, failed to achieve a place in the top eight teams at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo and thus gain automatic qualification for the Olympics. This must have been as much a surprise and shock to the gymnasts as it was to everyone else. Having followed their progress carefully in recent years I was taken aback by the result they achieved there and know how hard they will have trained since then to ensure that things do not go wrong at this event. Well, it will be as much a test of character as it will be of their skill and talent – hence my use of the quote above.

Louis Smith (Great Britain) competing in Pommel Horse final at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Daniel Keatings (Great Britain) competing on Pommel Horse at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

The same applies to me too of course and whilst I am approaching my 13^thOlympic Games with anticipation, I know that it will be a challenge of endurance and fitness as much as it will be a test of my photographic abilities.

Kristian Thomas (Great Britain) competing on High Bar at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London

Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) competing on Parallel Bars at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

One week on and the artistic gymnastics event is over. As ever there have been highs and lows, disappointment and elation in equal measure. Some gymnasts travel home knowing their hopes of qualifying for the Olympics have been realised whilst others are coping with the bitter disappointment of seeing their dreams shattered. Watching all this made me realise the relevance of the quote at the start of this posting.

Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) about to compete in the Rings final at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Photographically this has been a challenging – and somewhat disappointing – event to cover. Whilst some improvements have been made since the 02 Arena staged the 2009 World Championships, there has been a real decline in the standard of the lighting. The fact that there was no live TV coverage no doubt had some influence and I’m sure that the economics of staging the event played a part. Not only was there a low level of light but there were some very strange colour casts – possibly the result of the running down of the lamps as they age. They are due to be replaced for the Olympics but it was a pity that the new ones weren’t in place for this event. I did careful checks during the first day of training but even so the only way to deal with the shifting colours was to shoot on Auto White Balance and resign myself to a lot of editing. It is not an easy arena to work in and finding clean angles almost impossible. Things were further complicated for us by the choice of colour scheme for the event – yellow mats, red on apparatus, pink on the surrounding area and a deep mauve on the carpet (which threw up some very unpleasant colour casts and shadows on the skin).

Max Whitlock (Great Britain) competing on High Bar at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012. This image needed a lot of colour correction thanks to the shadows cast on the skin.

In terms of the photographs I needed, this was most of all an event about emotions, successes and failures. I decided that while I would be aiming to get good action images, I would concentrate on shooting off podium, looking for facial expressions, moments of intense concentration and images that showed the relationships between gymnasts and their coaches.

National Men's Coach Andrey Popov waits for the final team score to be posted on the scoreboard at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) waiting for his score at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Louis Smith (Great Britain) in the line up for Pommel Horse final at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

For once I decided to let the ‘art of sport’ images take a back seat and try to create images that told the story of what this event was all about – especially for the British Men’s team.

Max Whitlock (Great Britain) congratulated by Eddie Van Hoof after competing on Pommel Horse at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

National coach Andrey Popov gives Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) advice before competing on Rings at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

The images from the training sessions illustrate this and I shot a number of portrait images that clearly show the feelings of the gymnasts and coaches as they made their final preparations.

The British Men's team line up for the start of the competition at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Equally during and after the competition itself it was good to take similar photographs that clearly showed their elation, relief and happiness.

National Men's Coach Eddie Van Hoof waits for the final team score to be posted on the scoreboard at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012. His prayers were answered!

Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) after competing on Vault at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Louis Smith (Great Britain) competing in Pommel Horse final at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

My first posting is unashamedly xenophobic. Like everyone else, my focus (in every sense of the word) was on the British Men and how they would perform. I spent time shooting them in training, looking for images that would set the scene of their great challenge – and then followed them throughout the competition. For once, other gymnasts tended to take the back seat for me. I knew where my priorities lay and that’s where my efforts were aimed.

Ruslan Panteleymonov (Great Britain) competing on Rings at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Going full out. Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) competing on Floor Exercise at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Max Whitlock (Great Britain) competing on Floor Exercise shows his new original move at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

By the time I post this piece, the results will be being celebrated by everyone involved in British Gymnastics. Not only did the men’s team seize one of the four places left for teams qualification for The Games but they did it in great style finishing in first place and over seven points ahead of the next placed team (France).

The final scores and result of the men's team competition at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Celebration time for the British Men's team after they receive their gold medals at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

From start to finish it was obvious that the team were intent on doing the business and not letting anything distract them or interfere with their concentration.

Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) competing in the Rings final at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Obviously they benefitted from a partisan home crowd but there are times when this can work against a team’s efforts by putting too much pressure on them. The British gymnasts relished the atmosphere and allowed it to help them achieve their goal.

Gymnasts and parents from Huntingdon Gymnastics Club supporting the British team.

Acknowledging the support of the crowd. Louis Smith (Great Britain) celebrates after competing on Pommel Horse at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

Not only did they achieve their main aim of team qualification but there were successes in the apparatus finals too – for Daniel Purvis, Kristian Thomas, Louis Smith and Max Whitlock.

Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) wins the gold medal for Floor Exercise at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

In some ways it is wrong to single out any one gymnast from the team but Daniel Keatings in particular had an impressive night by any standards. It has been a tough time for Daniel – overcoming a serious knee injury and then failing to compete to his normal high standards in Tokyo.

Daniel Keatings (Great Britain) competing in the Parallel Bars final at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

For this event he had been selected to compete first on every piece of apparatus – a formidable challenge. Any gymnast who goes up first faces the double whammy of having to set a high standard for those who follow but also find that their scores are deflated somewhat as the judges leave themselves room to score ensuing gymnasts higher.

Intense concentration from Daniel Keatings - first up on Pommel Horse

It is significant that he still qualified for Parallel Bars final in spite of being first up on this piece in the team event. Daniel took this role on with courage and the determination to put his Tokyo demons to rest; his performance here was one of his best ever and the role he played in setting the stage for the other gymnasts should not be underestimated.

After the competition Daniel Keatings (Great Britain) is interviewed by television at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

It was good to see the gymnasts relishing the support of the crowd – even the normally reserved members of the team – and the competition must have really boosted their spirits and confidence.

Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) after competing on Parallel Bars at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

The other side of the coin is that each team member will have left London knowing that their result here guarantees nothing – the arduous process of training, competing and selection goes on. Gymnastics is a tough sport in so many ways. An athlete or swimmer has to meet a time or distance to qualify for the Games. A gymnast has to be selected for his national team and the result achieved here is only part of that process. On top of all this each gymnast needs to stay fit and free of injury – not easy when the training becomes more intensive as The Games approach.

Louis Smith (Great Britain) competing in Pommel Horse final at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012.

While the British were facing their own Everest, gymnasts from all over the world were on a similar trek and images of these, along with more of the British team will be posted on my website (link below).

My sincere congratulations to the team – not only the gymnasts but the coaches and medical staff who were an essential part of the success story. My apologies to any readers who feel this was a particularly patriotic posting – but I was proud to be there to witness this great moment in the history of Gymnastics in Britain.

The training goes on. Daniel Purvis (Great Britain) training on Floor Exercise at the 'London Prepares' Test Event at the North Greenwich Arena London January 2012

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© Eileen Langsley 2012