Dubai Telegraph - How AFP's Jeff Pachoud got those 'insane' Olympic BMX shots

EUR -
AED 3.826681
AFN 70.327616
ALL 98.192804
AMD 406.067937
ANG 1.879076
AOA 951.190259
ARS 1045.840133
AUD 1.601828
AWG 1.877897
AZN 1.775245
BAM 1.957546
BBD 2.105077
BDT 124.589901
BGN 1.956284
BHD 0.392592
BIF 3016.094951
BMD 1.041829
BND 1.405287
BOB 7.204528
BRL 6.043693
BSD 1.04263
BTN 88.005286
BWP 14.243906
BYN 3.412124
BYR 20419.848375
BZD 2.101624
CAD 1.456946
CDF 2991.091432
CHF 0.930994
CLF 0.037254
CLP 1027.952249
CNY 7.54601
CNH 7.562783
COP 4605.144632
CRC 531.073558
CUC 1.041829
CUP 27.608468
CVE 110.75048
CZK 25.343745
DJF 185.15426
DKK 7.457312
DOP 62.978972
DZD 139.891631
EGP 51.726992
ERN 15.627435
ETB 128.155793
FJD 2.371151
FKP 0.822333
GBP 0.831468
GEL 2.855018
GGP 0.822333
GHS 16.464915
GIP 0.822333
GMD 73.970229
GNF 8992.026458
GTQ 8.048177
GYD 218.127645
HKD 8.109446
HNL 26.28575
HRK 7.431636
HTG 136.86204
HUF 411.533277
IDR 16610.452733
ILS 3.863061
IMP 0.822333
INR 87.968134
IQD 1365.316903
IRR 43834.955489
ISK 145.523076
JEP 0.822333
JMD 166.09811
JOD 0.738765
JPY 161.242873
KES 134.920816
KGS 90.122166
KHR 4220.449639
KMF 492.268155
KPW 937.645704
KRW 1463.259646
KWD 0.320727
KYD 0.868887
KZT 520.591707
LAK 22878.565176
LBP 93347.878651
LKR 303.450587
LRD 187.529583
LSL 18.888757
LTL 3.076251
LVL 0.630192
LYD 5.089375
MAD 10.49591
MDL 19.017231
MGA 4865.341785
MKD 61.54739
MMK 3383.819949
MNT 3540.134882
MOP 8.359474
MRU 41.574227
MUR 48.810083
MVR 16.10707
MWK 1807.573672
MXN 21.281613
MYR 4.654932
MZN 66.583684
NAD 18.888753
NGN 1767.675143
NIO 38.287608
NOK 11.531328
NPR 140.808938
NZD 1.78585
OMR 0.401107
PAB 1.042655
PEN 3.952739
PGK 4.194144
PHP 61.404399
PKR 289.423952
PLN 4.338074
PYG 8139.257775
QAR 3.792783
RON 4.976404
RSD 117.038068
RUB 108.671879
RWF 1427.305728
SAR 3.911717
SBD 8.734231
SCR 14.879628
SDG 626.663972
SEK 11.501974
SGD 1.402827
SHP 0.822333
SLE 23.68116
SLL 21846.638123
SOS 595.409088
SRD 36.978718
STD 21563.75683
SVC 9.123047
SYP 2617.626467
SZL 18.888745
THB 35.91223
TJS 11.103861
TMT 3.646401
TND 3.313541
TOP 2.440072
TRY 36.018972
TTD 7.081314
TWD 33.946439
TZS 2771.265486
UAH 43.133048
UGX 3852.435216
USD 1.041829
UYU 44.339112
UZS 13366.666402
VES 48.506662
VND 26482.251319
VUV 123.688032
WST 2.90836
XAF 656.558208
XAG 0.033274
XAU 0.000384
XCD 2.815595
XDR 0.793126
XOF 650.625955
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.379151
ZAR 18.862746
ZMK 9377.71492
ZMW 28.802098
ZWL 335.468513
  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

How AFP's Jeff Pachoud got those 'insane' Olympic BMX shots
How AFP's Jeff Pachoud got those 'insane' Olympic BMX shots / Photo: JEFF PACHOUD - AFP

How AFP's Jeff Pachoud got those 'insane' Olympic BMX shots

His eye-popping picture of a BMX ace seemingly riding to the top of an ancient Egyptian obelisk on his bike during the Paris Olympics has gone around the world.

Text size:

Jeff Pachoud's surreal shots from the Place de la Concorde in Paris are just some of the AFP photographs that have become iconic during the Games.

Jerome Brouillet's photo of the floating Brazilian surfer was called the "defining image" of the 2024 Olympics on only the third day of competition, but Pachoud has been giving his colleague a run for his money.

His images, particularly of the BMX riders, have been hailed as "insane" and "amazing" on social media.

"I'm in the really luxurious position... of not having to cover events" blow-by-blow, he said. Instead Pachoud -- who has a cupboard full of prizes for his sports photos -- was given the freedom to go get images that "would be a bit different".

That roaming brief "changes everything", the 40-year-old admitted.

"That means I can concentrate on something and wait until I can get the shot" that will really stand out, said the photojournalist, who is based out of AFP's bureau in Lyon, France's culinary capital.

Pachoud was drawn to the skateboard park set up against the spectacular backdrop of Place de la Concorde, the vast historic square at the foot of the Champs-Elysees.

But his eye was quickly drawn to the training going on nearby for the BMX events.

"You can work more freely when you are covering training -- things are less fixed, you can wander around a bit," he said.

Straight away he spotted the possibility of getting a rider "nose to nose" with the 3,000-year-old obelisk from the Temple of Luxor that was given to France by Egypt's ruler in 1830. So he tried to work out their trajectories, found the perfect spot and then waited.

"An enormous part of this is luck, it all depends on the performance of the athlete," said Pachoud, a keen mountaineer.

"It wasn't just one click, it was a burst and in that there was an image which gave this amazing visual impression..."

It looked like the Argentinian Jose Torres Gil was defying the laws of gravity by riding up to the side of the monument. Two days later he won the Olympic gold.

Another of Pachoud's images that clients snapped up was of Brazilian Gustavo Batista De Oliveira seemingly upside down kissing the top of the Eiffel Tower as he did a loop.

To get that shot, the photographer had to leave the venue.

"From the outside you could see the Eiffel Tower better. I noticed that every time the riders went up the big ramp they went over it."

But "soon I wasn't alone" as a group of other photographers followed him out to try to get their own images.

BMX and skateboarding -- recent additions to the Games -- are particularly "spectacular", said Pachoud. "So I tend to go for that kind of sport. That said, I was doing the table tennis today. Even so I try to teach myself to look differently at things to get a cool photo."

H.Hajar--DT