The sporting portrait is an extraordinary skill. It’s like wildlife photography: you can’t reset the scene, you can’t ask the runners to go back onto their blocks; you just have to capture that one moment in the wild. When you do — quite possibly by accident — then that moment will for ever shape the memory of however many thousands or even millions of people recall it.
Sport is a drama that you don’t know the end of. In film, you can always have a pretty good hunch that the guy will get the girl or the heroes will defeat the bad guys. But with sport, it’s utterly unpredictable. Giants can be slain, pain can be shared and prejudices can be exposed. Great sports shots — like great sports films — tap into that. They are an art unto themselves.
Adam Riches is Coach Coach is at the Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh, to Aug 30 (0131 556 6550)
John Barnes kicking a banana off the pitch, 1988 (Getty)
Barnes was my favourite player when I was younger and when I first saw this picture I didn’t even see the banana. I just assumed he was doing a trick. It wasn’t till years later that I realised the shot was a lot more disturbing: he’s kicking a banana off the pitch after it had been thrown on as a racist taunt.
Carl Lewis, 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
Speed, power and focus. This picture captures it all. Carl Lewis dominated the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics winning golds in every event he took part in. I love the furious motion blur on his limbs and the clean focus on his face. This was the first sporting event I remember watching and it was all down to him — and perhaps the guy who flew into the Opening Ceremony on a jet pack!
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Muhammad Ali v Cleveland Williams, 1966
The bird’s eye image is so perfectly composed: Williams splayed in one corner, the ref standing over him giving the count while Ali stalks in the opposite corner, and the whole perfectly framed by the composition of the ring.
Eric Liddell, final scene from Chariots of Fire, 1981
The moment when Ian Charleson as Liddell puts his head back in the final race has always hit me hard. I especially love the next shot where it cuts to Harold Abrahams, his rival, watching from the stand, his face a mixture of pure envy and wild awe.
Diego Maradona, 1982 World Cup (Being confronted by six Belgian defenders; Steve Powell, Getty)
The Belgians vastly outnumber him but all six are completely terrified. The colours are great too — pack of red versus a flash of sky blue. It reminds me of a herd of wildebeest desperately keeping together while the predator circles.
Michael Owen, Manchester United v Liverpool, 1999 (Phil Noble/PA)
This image perfectly captures the connection between fan and player. Owen’s instinctive grab of the head perfectly epitomises what every other Liverpool fan was doing around the stadium — and indeed around the world — at that point. All of us united in despair.