For some time, Sochi was one of Russia’s top gay scenes. But after the coastal city was chosen as the site for the 2014 Olympics and President Vladimir Putin signed a “gay propaganda” law into action, Sochi’s LGBT scene has been shrinking.
Reuters photographer Thomas Peter documented slices of LGBT life in Sochi in October, about four months before the 2014 Winter Olympics were slated to begin.
More →
The unique sport of curling remains mostly out of the spotlight. But every four years, that changes, says brothers Hunter and Caleb Clawson, of Clarksville. After each winter Olympics, the Potomac Curling Club in Laurel sees a huge influx in interest at its meetings and open houses. For now, it’s just a core group of devotees shuffling up and down the ice.
The Clawsons, trained by their father Eric for the past eight years, are competing in the International Curling Championships this week in Vancouver. On Sunday, the Clawsons did some training exercises and competed in a friendly match with other club members.
The video below was partly shot on a GoPro camera attached to a curling stone to give a rare perspective of the sport.
From the Summer Olympics and Michael Phelps becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time to boxing fights and Mexican wrestling, here’s a look at the best sports images from around the world in 2012.
U.S President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden welcomed the 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams for a ceremony at the White House on Friday.
With only 2 days left of the 2012 Paralympic Games, there has been a tremendous amount of victorious moments coming out of London. As for the medal count, The People’s Republic of China is still way ahead with 78 golds (198 total) followed by Great Britain with 32 golds (113 total) and the Russian Federation also with 32 golds (91 total). The top individual medalists are all swimmers with Australia’s Jacqueline Freney bringing 7 gold medals back down under. Tied for second are Matthew Cowdrey, also from Australia, and Jessica Long from the U.S. with 5 golds and 2 silver medals each.
Paralympians with Maryland ties have proven their mettle during the 1st week of the 2012 games in London. Jessica Long of Middle River, Tatyana McFadden of Columbia, Becca Meyers of Timonium, Ian Jaryd Silverman of Towson and Brad Snyder of Baltimore are among Maryland’s medal winners.
More →
Already on Day 6, the London 2012 Paralympic Games is in full swing. The People’s Republic of China leads the medal count with an astonishing 49 golds (121 total) followed by Great Britain with 22 golds (74 total) and the Russian Federation with 18 golds (54 total). By the time of the Closing Ceremonies on September 9, the London Games will have welcomed 4,280 competitors from 164 nations, the largest number of athletes since the first Paralympics in 1960.
You don’t become the most decorated Olympian of all time without ubiquitous worldwide press coverage — hardware equals headlines — but we can safely say the ink chronicling hometown hero Michael Phelps in the pages of The Baltimore Sun could fill entire swimming pools. A record 22 Olympic medals, including 18 golds, will do that. Search “Michael Phelps” in The Sun’s print archives and you’ll find more than 1,500 articles mentioning him, a total which isn’t comprehensive for the newspaper and doesn’t include any website or mobile content. Ninety-nine front-page (1A) stories* have at least mentioned Phelps, though he’s obviously been the main subject of many of those. Not bad for a 27-year-old, huh?
As Phelps begins life after competitive swimming, we take a look back at The Sun’s coverage of his Olympic medal-winning races in Athens, Beijing and London, highlighting the print covers and stories.
More →
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.
More →
As this year’s Olympic athletes continue to show off their skills on the field, in the pool, on the court, in the ring, etc., they also continue to show off their skin art. So much in fact that last week’s Darkroom post on 50 more tattoos on the world’s best athletes simply wasn’t enough.
Baltimore neighborhoods
Baltimore street photographers
Year in review
Freddie Gray: protests, aftermath
24 hours with...
A. Aubrey Bodine
Viewing Baltimore from above