Capturing the Passion of the Winter Olympics

After four long years waiting for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, it’s sadly coming to an end with closing ceremonies on Sunday. This Olympics has included 2,952 athletes from 92 different countries facing off in 102 events across 15 different sports. It’s been a jam-packed two weeks full of amazing athletes and memorable moments.

Capturing these moments in action is a skill and we are lucky to have such wonderful coverage of these events. These images capture the passion, drive, concentration, competition, and camaraderie of the athletes featured in them. You can see the highest highs and the lowest lows – all the emotions that truly embody the Olympics. 

Pyeongchang had so many remarkable moments to choose from, here are just a handful of our favorites (in no special order) that tugged on our heart strings and made us say “WOW!”

#FigureSkating Ladies Single Skating Free Skating :
Alina Zagitova #OAR #gold
Evgenia Medvedeva #OAR #silver
Kaetlyn Osmond #CAN #bronze
😊Congrats! 😊 #PyeongChang2018 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/1L4zVkU4hQ

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 23, 2018

🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/lnWGfdUXNT

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 23, 2018

#Gold for #CAN! @SamGirardCAN takes the first place in men's #shorttrackskating 1000m! 👏👏👏 John-Henry Krueger #USA is #silver and Yira Seo #KOR #bronze. Congrats! #PyeongChang2018 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/5KqmuUOgFs

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 17, 2018

#Gold medal for team #KOR! Sungbin Yun takes the first place in men's #Skeleton! Congratulations! #PyeongChang2018 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/YSFmZxufgK

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 16, 2018

This is so cool. 😍 #Snowboard @fissnowboard pic.twitter.com/D8VGr2bBPP

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 20, 2018

That moment when you win your country's first ever men's singles Olympic #luge medal in history! Congratulations @Mazdzer! 👏👏👏 #Silver #USA #Olympics #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/SGot88a9XC

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 11, 2018

Tonight, the final heats of Women's Bobsleigh will begin! ✨ See which nation goes out as Champions! 🥇 #PyeongChang2018 #Bobsleigh 오늘 밤, 여자 봅슬레이 2인승에서 메달의 주인을 가리는 3, 4차 주행이 시작됩니다!✔️ #8시40분 #슬라이딩센터 pic.twitter.com/rg8DMFQnCD

— Gangwon2024 (@gangwon2024) February 21, 2018

#Gold medal to team #HUN in Men's #ShortTrackSkating 5000m Relay with an Olympic record time of 6:31.971! 👏 The #silver goes to #CHN and #CAN takes the #bronze. Congratulations! 👏👏👏 #PyeongChang2018 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/uLCjQlAbaI

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 22, 2018

#Gold medal to #NOR in men's 500m #speedskating! Havard Lorentzen takes the first place with an Olympic record! Min Kyu Cha #KOR takes #silver and Tingyu Gao #CHN #bronze. Congratulations! 👏👏👏 #Olympics #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/YNapGmASPr

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 19, 2018

https://twitter.com/olympicchannel/status/967038790748590081

New World Record for Dajing Wu #CHN in men's #ShortTrackSkating 500m! 😱 39.800 Congratulations! 👏👏 #PyeongChang2018 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/uodCe4zxfF

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 22, 2018

Are you inspired by these photos? It takes a lot of skill to capture the motion (and emotion) in these action shots. At KelbyOne, we are lucky enough to have legendary Olympic sports photographer Dave Black as one of our instructors. Over the course of Dave’s 30 year career as a sports photographer he has photographed 12 Olympic events for Newsweek. Learn what it takes to create dynamic sports action photos like these that stand out from the crowd! Check out Dave’s classes like Sports Photography: The Tools and Techniques to Get the Shot, Olympic Sports Photography Talk, and many more – all for just $9.99/month. You’ve gotta do something to keep yourself busy until the next Winter Olympics, right?

And of course stay tuned for the closing ceremonies on Sunday that will include performances by K-Pop singers CL and EXO, a march of the 2018 class of Olympians, and the passing of the torch to Beijing, host of the next Winter Games in 2022.