I never thought I would be able to realize one of my biggest professional dreams, that of experiencing the Olympic Games! It is thanks to the confidence of my employer, The dutythat I was able to join my valiant reporter colleague Éric Desrosiers to cover behind the scenes and the competitions of this historic event, in particular because Beijing hosted the Winter and Summer Games.
Until the day before, our departure to China could be aborted due to the pandemic conditions. During the weeks leading up to the Olympics, the rapid contagiousness of the Omicron variant wreaked havoc worldwide. In January, positive cases of COVID-19 continued to explode in Quebec and I had to, as I have done for two years, be extra careful, not without stress, to deal with sanitary procedures in the exercise of my work. as a photojournalist and above all, to make enormous and painful sacrifices by avoiding all close contact with members of my family. Everyone understood the rules of the game: a positive diagnosis would have compromised my presence in China.
Added to this was the wait for the negative result of a last PCR test, then finally obtaining a green code from China, which guaranteed our departure. This famous code green, which really gave us the impression of winning the lottery, was received literally a few hours from our flight from Montreal to Asia.
Capture extraordinary feats
Covering the Games as a photographer is a bit like a marathon. We arrived a few days before their start in order to understand how transport works, how to access the sites and to familiarize ourselves with our new environment. Covering the Olympics is also the privilege of being able to immortalize in images the extraordinary exploits of our Canadian athletes. It was necessary to choose the sports disciplines on a daily basis, sometimes make difficult choices, adjust to transport schedules and plan time to get to the mountain sports sites, which were an hour away by fast train and endless bus transit. .
Added to this was the stress of not knowing until the last minute what our photo positions would be. We were hundreds of international photographers from newspapers, websites and press agencies. The latter had priority and benefited from better strategic positions. Photographers should plan to arrive several hours before the start of the competition. A draw then made it possible to choose a precise placement. Our armband then changed to another color granting us this privilege. The press agencies also had the necessary staff to offer a diversified range of photos, with much more preparation.
I was surprised and delighted to see how the organization of the Olympic Games favors and deploys a whole series of measures and relevant information to enhance our photographic coverage, as far as possible. The Chinese volunteers were remarkably kind and very welcoming in all circumstances. Documents were given to us with the possible photo positions at each competition site and the suggested lenses. Photo directors were present and tried as best they could to direct us to the competition sites. There were locker, food, technical services as well as equipment loan and repair counters represented by the major camera companies (Nikon, Sony and Canon).
Regrets
Gender parity? Same observation as in Quebec. It is clear that women photographers are under-represented and are the subject of curiosity on the part of foreign journalists…
Finally, the daily PCR tests distressed me a little each morning, like many of my Quebec colleagues. But the most heartbreaking thing was above all not being able to get out of the Olympic bubble. We were only able to appreciate the true nature of the city and its people through the windows of the shuttle buses. Who knows, one day, I will be able to meet the Chinese to take the pulse of this fascinating population, to discover Beijing from another angle and this magnificent country through my lens.
Would I like to be able to cover the Olympics again?
Certainly.
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.