No Medal but Secured the Olympic Rings... Italian Diver's 'Life Shot'

Accurately Entering the Olympic Rings Engraved on the Stadium
Photojournalist Jinman Lee: "Calculated Composition for Shooting"

At the 2024 Paris Olympic diving competition, a moment was captured on camera where an athlete perfectly landed inside the Olympic rings. Although the athlete finished 22nd out of 25 competitors, he left behind a 'historic photo' that will be remembered in Olympic history. On the 6th (local time), the Associated Press reported a photo taken during the men's 3m springboard diving preliminaries at the Paris Aquatic Center in France, showing Italy's Giovanni Tocci positioned inside one of the Olympic rings engraved on the arena wall during his dive.

On the 6th (local time), the AP news agency reported a photo capturing Italy's Giovanni Tocci positioned inside the Olympic rings engraved on the wall of the venue during his diving performance in the men's 3m springboard preliminaries at the Aquatic Center in Paris, France.
[Photo by AP·Yonhap News]

In the photo, Tocci is seen jumping off the springboard, extending his legs and wrapping his arms around them while rotating, perfectly aligned inside the ring at the center of the Olympic rings engraved on the wall. Tocci scored a total of 346.85 points over six rounds, placing 22nd out of 25, failing to advance to the semifinals, which were reserved for the top 18 competitors.

As the photo gained attention, the AP released an interview with the photographer who took the picture. The photo was taken by South Korean photographer Lee Jin-man. Lee said, "I arrived earlier than other photographers and secured a spot on the deck right in front of the springboard," adding, "I always try various angles, and this time I used the Olympic rings to compose the shot." He continued, "In diving, if you don't plan a unique composition in advance, all the competition photos can look the same. I aimed to capture the athlete's movement, face, and the Olympic rings all together. I placed the athlete centrally against the rings as a background and tried to maintain symmetry in the photo."

The photo also became a hot topic among domestic netizens. Comments from viewers included, "Applause to the photographer who pressed the shutter countless times to capture that one shot," "Wow, I've never seen such a perfectly composed photo," "The athlete should really thank the photographer," and "This Olympics is also enjoyable for the photos."