Existing comment:
1985 Spot News: Olympics in Los Angeles:
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, China competed in the Olympic Games for the first time since 1952. Women ran their first Olympic marathons. And three photographers from The Orange County Register -- Rick Rickman, Hal Stoelzle, and Brian Smith -- tried to outdo much bigger news organizations.
"The L.A. Times had 40 credentials and we had three," Rickman said. "It was a daunting task." They couldn't compete head-to-head, so they looked for the striking shot. Said Smith, "We wanted someone to pick up the paper and see something they hadn't seen on TV the night before. We definitely did not play it safe."
On Aug. 12, Hal Stoelzle was covering men's freestyle swimming. He had arrived at 5:30am to secure a spot. The finals didn't begin until late afternoon. The still-photo positions were under the bleachers, where the heat topped 100 degrees. But when teammates greeted Rowdy Gaines in front of the flag after he won the gold medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle, "I knew the wait had been worth it." |