10 animated gifs from the 2012 Summer Olympic Games

10 animated gifs

If the Olympics reinforced anything, it’s our addiction to the animated gif — everyone from journalists to pop culture enthusiasts created them to add a little drama and pizazz in reporting the Games this year. Elspeth Reeve from The Atlantic provided a gif guide to “how the U.S. Team crushed the Russians,” meanwhile Buzzfeed highlighted the “most absurd moments of the Olympic Opening Ceremony” and Mashable presented “the most painful moments of the Olympics” via gifs.

Here’s a gif rundown from the Neiman Journalism Lab, a Storify of Olympics gifs, and a gif need to know guide for journalists from Ann Friedman.

We claim to be no pros, but here we add our own to the Olympics animated gif mix from the hurdles to weightlifting and even a First Lady Michelle Obama reaction, using photos and the power of layers and animation in Photoshop.