Tom Jenkins's best sports photos of 2012

Mo Farah, men's 5,000m final, Olympic Stadium 11/8/12. 200mm lens, 1/800 f5, ISO 1600. When setting up for the final session of athletics in the main stadium, I knew that the main story of the night (and possibly the whole Games) would be if Mo Farah completed the historic double of 10,000m and 5,000m victories. I knew I had a decent spot for a tight shot of him crossing the line so I set up another remote camera designed specifically to include a lot of the crowd. As the race was run at 7.30pm I knew there would be plenty of daylight still around to light up the stands. I was trying to create a frame which wasn’t just about an individual winning. More I wanted a feeling of national celebration as he crossed the line. Also I wanted to illustrate somehow the amazing atmosphere inside the stadium that evening. Luckily the planning paid off. Thank you Mo Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Novak Djokovic, ATP tour finals final v Roger Federer, O2 Arena. 12/11/12. 500mm lens, 1/800 f4, ISO 3200. It was a fantastic final and towards the end of the first set things were getting very tense. It is at these crucial times that some of the big players start to leap around. Also Federer was repeatedly trying to trick his opponent by firing the ball back behind the running Djokovic. It was just one of these points that saw Djokovic being forced to dive onto the hard surface to retrieve a ball Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Manchester City v Manchester United, Etihad Stadium, Manchester. 30/4/12. 28mm lens, 1/640 f2.8, ISO 2000. Arguably the most crucial goal of the season as the two title contenders went head-to-head just a couple of weeks before the end of the season. Vincent Kompany’s header gave City a 1-0 victory and a slight advantage they just about hung onto to win their first Premier League title. I always put a remote camera behind one of the nets at football matches I attend. The big advantage at Manchester City is that the nets there are black so you can see through them more clearly than white ones Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Opening Ceremony, Olympic Stadium 27/7/12. 56mm lens, 1/250 f4, ISO 2000. A really strong image from the Opening Ceremony was needed for the front page. The only problem was that the deadline for first edition of the paper was 9pm. Having seen the dress rehearsal two days earlier, I knew that this moment could be the most amazing and it was going to happen at roughly 8.55pm. Just enough time to shoot and transmit. I will never forget this spine-tingling moment when five molten Olympic rings floated together, shedding sparks in the night sky Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Assunta Legnante, women's F11/F12 shot put final, Olympic Stadium. 5/9/12. 135mm lens 1/2000 f4, ISO 200. A fearsome sight as the towering figure of the Italian with the unique eye-mask prepares to hurl the shot. To make her look big and imposing I needed to get as low down as possible. Thus I crept as close I could towards the back of the circle to shoot up at her. Obviously when shooting blind sports you need to be very quiet so as not to affect the athletes' concentration Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Charlie Sharples, England v Fiji, Twickenham. 10/11/12. 300mm lens, 1/800 f4, ISO 2000. I like this picture for the look of sheer determination on Sharples’ face as he forces himself over for the first try of the game. He had been stopped just short of the line but managed to just gain enough momentum to dive over. The southern end of Twickenham is really great for taking pictures of tries like this as you can sit very low down and shoot just above the level of the grass Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Beach volleyball, Horse Guards Parade 28/7/12. 24mm lens, 1/1000 f5.6, ISO 1250. The opening day of the Olympics hadn’t gone well for me. The men's road race had not produced the result I was looking for as Mark Cavendish had failed to finish in the medals on The Mall. I had finished transmitting my pictures from the cycling and noticed that there was going to be a lovely sunset. So I decided to make the short walk across to Horse Guards Parade to see another of the iconic venues for the games. I am glad I made the effort Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Brazil v France, blind football final, Riverside Arena. 8/9/12. 165mm lens, 1/ 1000 f5, ISO 200. This was one of my most enjoyable events this summer. I was astounded by the skill of the blind footballers especially the Brazilian here, Ricardinho, as he takes on three French defenders. He was their star player and helped them on to the gold medal. It was fantastic to see how they would often crash into one another but just get up and keep playing without a fuss. So refreshing Photograph: Tom Jenkins

World Cup diving, Olympic Aqautics Centre, Stratford. 20/2/12. 200mm lens, 1/ 2000 f5.6, ISO 1250. I took this on the first day of competition in the newly opened Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park. It was a clear, crisp winter's day and the sunset created a beautiful glow through the windows behind the boards. This made me think of the possibilities later in the summer when the Olympics were in full flow. Unfortunately TV wanted a very controlled even light in the venue thus all natural light was banned and these windows never had any daylight through them during the Games. Shame Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Ellie Simmonds, women's S6 400m freestyle final, Aquatics Centre. 1/9/12. 500mm lens, 1/1000 f5.6, ISO 2500. Just after finishing her race and realising she had won, Ellie Simmonds started to sob into the water. She had been in a titanic battle with the American Victoria Arlen, definitely the best race I saw at the Aquatics Centre this summer. The teenager from Swansea was one of the faces of the Paralympics and endured enormous pressure after being so successful in Beijing four years earlier Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Frankel, Champion Stakes, Ascot. 20/10/12. 300mm lens, 1/100 f4, ISO 1000. Possibly the greatest racehorse of all time had won all 13 races of his career when he came to Ascot in late October for his final race. The conditions were not good. Plenty of rain had rendered the going much worse than he had ever encountered before. Indeed there were doubts he would even run. But Frankel overcame a strong field to power to victory. This picture is taken just as he approaches the winning line. The packed stands gave him a rousing send off into retirement as well as cheering the horse’s magnificent trainer, Sir Henry Cecil, who was very ill with cancer Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Mark Cavendish, Redbridge Cycling Centre. 30/1/12. 32 mm lens, 1/20 f16, ISO 100. We had an big pre-Olympic interview with Mark Cavendish and I was invited along to take some portraits. At first I took some “safe” still images with him posing next to his bike. But I was looking for something a little more exciting. So I asked him to get on his bike, lit things up with a couple of lights and used some zoom-blur to give the feel of him speeding up a hill. In fact he wasn’t moving at all- the bike was being held upright by a couple of helpers at the track. Cavendish has incredibly strong thighs and could stay balancing like that for ages Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Olympic qualifying gymnastics tournament, O2 Arena, 10/1/12. 44mm lens, 1/640 f3.2, ISO 2500. In the final qualifying tournament for the games I wanted to experiment with various tricks I may come to use later in the summer at the real thing. I managed to get a position low down under the rings to photograph the GB team in action. To spice things up a bit I put on a filter to make use of the lights glaring straight into my lens. I wanted to give the image a circus-like feel as I often think the gymnasts remind me of trapeze artists Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Didier Drogba, Champions League final, Munich. 19/5/12. 500mm lens, 1/800 f4, ISO 2500. In the middle of the penalty shoot-out to decide the trophy, Chelsea were trailing as Juan Mata had missed his side’s first attempt. The players looked dejected. All except Didier Drogba, who had rescued his side with a late equaliser in normal time. He started to pray. Maybe this paid off as Bayern then missed two penalties leaving Drogba as the man assigned to score the winning spot-kick. Penalties are so hard to photograph as I feel you really need cameras pointing in various different places all at the same time. There are so many decisions to make in a very quick time and with such high stakes you don’t want to make the wrong choice Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Bradley and Ben Wiggins, Champs-Élysées, Paris. 22/7/12. 24mm lens, 1/250 f6.3, ISO 400. I will never forget the amazing scenes that beautiful summer’s day in the centre of Paris. Thousands of British fans were there to witness the crowning of Bradley Wiggins as Tour de France champion. No one was expecting the amazing, yet touching sight of Wiggins and his son Ben going on a lap of honour up and down the Champs-Élysées. Father and son on matching yellow bikes, as though they were on a Sunday afternoon jaunt round the lanes surrounding their Lancashire home. I just wish I had the luxury of a motorbike carrying me that day. It was exhausting running after Wiggins trying to second guess where he was off to and what he was going to do next Photograph: Tom Jenkins

French handball team, men's final, Basketball Arena 12/8/12. 160mm lens 1/800 f4, ISO 1250. On the final day of the Olympics I was looking for something to do in the hours remaining until the Closing Ceremony. So I thought I would pop to the Basketball Arena to see the men's handball final between France and Sweden. It was a great match played out in front of a raucous crowd. I certainly didn’t expect the sight of the victorious French doing the lightning bolt celebration, in honour of Usain, as they climbed onto the presentation podium to get their gold medals Photograph: Tom Jenkins

J.T. McNamara escapes injury, cross-country chase, Cheltenham festival. 13/3/12. 500mm lens, 1/1000 f4, ISO 1600. I don’t often have time at the Cheltenham Festival to shoot the cross-country chase. This is because it always follows the big race on the first day, The Champion Hurdle. But I had seen some nice pictures from previous runnings of the race so I gave it a shot. After one particular fence I noticed that this jockey was being unseated and he slowly fell to the turf while his horse cantered on. It was only when I looked through the images later that I realised how lucky the jockey had been. I sometimes think it would have made an even better picture for me had the horse actually kicked him in the face. But maybe that’s a bit cruel, isn’t it? Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Andy Murray, Wimbledon men's semi-final. 6/7/12. 500mm lens, 1/1000 f7.1, ISO 1600. The Scotsman overcame Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to become Britain's first men's singles finalist at Wimbledon since 1938. Straight after he clinched the match and realised what he had achieved, he seemed overcome with emotion. Despite losing the final to Roger Federer, Murray gained revenge at the Olympics and then went on to win the US Open final Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Usain Bolt, mens 200m final, Olympic Stadium 9/8/12. 300mm lens, 1/1000th f4, ISO2000. I knew it was almost certain that Bolt was going to complete the 100m/200m Olympic double thus repeating the feat of four years earlier. So I placed myself quite a long way round the bend after the finishing line hoping he would celebrate there for me. Sure enough he didn’t let me down even though it wasn’t quite as good as the famous aeroplane take off jubilation from Beijing Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Women's 100m breastroke heats, Aquatics Centre. 29/7/12. 550mm lens, 1/1250 f4, ISO 2500. That day I was at the swimming all day, mainly to photograph Rebecca Adlington. But as I waited for her to compete in the heats in the morning, I tried to get some unusual shots by going in very tight on the swimmers competing in lane one, the closest to the photographic position by the side of the pool. This one, of Chinese breaststroker Zhao Jin, is an example of what can be achieved these days with modern camera technology allied to excellent lighting conditions Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Cross-country stage of 3-day eventing, Greenwich Park. 30/7/12. 112mm lens 1/ 1000 f10, ISO 800. I had shot the test event in Greenwich Park last year and knew that this fence could provide a wonderful view over to Canary Wharf. Of course, as with so much this summer, a lot depended on the weather. If it was a dirty day then this shot and all the planning that had gone into it would have been worthless. Fortunately at the start of the day the conditions were perfect Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Patrice Evra and Luis Suárez, Old Trafford, 11/2/12. 300mm lens, 1/800 f5, ISO 1250. It was widely expected that Suárez would shake hands with Evra on their first meeting after Suárez was banned for eight matches after racially abusing the Frenchman. Normally in the pre-match routine the home team go down to the away team to shake hands. However the referee swapped this protocol around. I had remembered the referee did exactly the same in similar circumstances with Wayne Bridge and John Terry a few years back. So I was prepared to run about 20 yards to my left and got to a clear view a couple of seconds before the incident took place Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Wheelchair rugby, Basketball Arena. 5/9/12. 500mm lens 1/640 f4, ISO 2000. It was the first match in the “murderball” competition and Great Britain were playing USA. The game was about to start and the atmosphere was electric. Just then I noticed a highly pumped GB player David Anthony going over to shout encouragement to his colleague Aaron Phipps Photograph: Tom Jenkins

11/ David Weir and son Mason, Wheelchair marathon, The Mall. 120mm lens 1/640 f5.6, ISO 400. My final event of a glorious summer of Olympic and Paralympic sport was the wheelchair marathon. It was finishing on The Mall, ironically exactly the same place as my Olympics had started with the disappointment for Mark Cavendish. With David Weir there would be a totally different ending. His fourth victory rounded things off perfectly and this image of him with his son Mason and the gold medal seemed ideal - especially as the motto behind these games was 'Inspire a generation' Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Saracens v Harlequins, Aviva Premiership match, Wembley Stadium. 31/3/12. 500mm lens, 1/800 f5, ISO1600. In front of a world record crowd for a club match, a really tough game between two of the top sides in the Premiership. The hard fought nature of the clash is illustrated here as Jackson Wray is dumped to the turf by Danny Care. The fact that Wray is landing on the ball and his face makes this picture for me Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Bradley Wiggins, men's road cycling time-trial, Hampton Court 1/8/12. 550mm lens, 1/1600 f5.6, ISO 500. As each cyclist was finishing the time-trial course I could see the Olympic rings, that were on the finish line, reflected in their mirror-like visor. So I decided to go in very tight on Wiggins when he crossed the line. It was just a matter of getting things in focus and making sure the timing was right Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Michael Phelps, Mens 200m butterfly final, Aquatics Centre 31/7/12. 550mm lens, 1/1600 f4, ISO 3200. I was very fortunate to get a privileged head-on position for one night of the swimming programme. It just happened to be the night when Michael Phelps broke the record to become the most decorated Olympian of all time. So my aim that night was quite simple. To get a really tight frame of the great man in action. So as he competed in the butterfly he was coming out of the water straight towards me. It was just a matter of concentrating really hard on the timing and making sure it was bang in focus Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Track cycling men's team pursuit qualifying, Olympic Velodrome. 2/8/12. 135mm lens, 1/15 f11, ISO 250. The Spanish team speed down the back straight during their qualifying run. This event has always been one of my favourites in the track cycling programme. It gives a photographer plenty of opportunity to play around with different shutter speeds and angles. The key to a picture like this is to make sure you get the cyclists sharp but also making sure you have a slow enough shutter to blur the surrounds. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/NOPP

Women's javelin final. Olympic Stadium. 9/8/12. 400mm lens, 1/1250 f4.5, ISO 2000. One of the aspects I so enjoyed about the Olympic Stadium this year was how the cauldron was placed inside the stands. Usually it is high up on the outside. Thus the burning flames gave the photographers chances to create something unusual. I tried something on the first morning of the athletics but realised that it might work better at night under floodlights. Also I felt it was a matter of finding the right competition where an athlete might be close enough to the flame to shoot on a long lens from the back of the stands Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Liverpool v Manchester United, Anfield, 23/9/12. 58mm lens, 1/500 f5, ISO 640. In September the Hillsborough Independent Panel revealed the full scale of the establishment cover-up over the 1989 disaster for the first time. The first home game for Liverpool after the report was published was against bitter rivals Manchester United. Just before kick off The Kop formed a mosaic that spelled out what had finally emerged after many years of campaigning. I positioned myself so I could shoot straight into The Kop but also bore in mind that I had the United fans just behind me so I was near to any potential trouble. Thankfully nothing bad occurred Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Jessica Ennis, Women's heptathlon 800m, Olympic Stadium. 4/8/12. 400mm lens, 1/1000 f4, ISO 2000. The middle Saturday of the Games was always going to be a special night at the stadium. I got there in the morning to make sure I got a good spot for the evening’s session. I really needed a head-on, low down position for the finish line. As things turned out it far exceeded my expectations. The din from the crowd as Jessica Ennis competed in the final event of the heptathlon was one of the loudest I have heard at any stadium anywhere. I was so glad she decided to make sure she crossed the finish line first Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Men's Triathlon, Hyde Park, 7/8/12. 175mm lens, 1/1600 f8, ISO 400. The triathlon is one of the most brutal sports of the games and you can pretty much guarantee that some of the finishers will collapse in exhaustion at the finishing line. Seeing the perfect white rings on the pristine blue carpet I positioned myself high up on the photographers stand and just waited Photograph: Tom Jenkins

American football, Wembley Stadium. 28/10/12. 31mm lens, 1/500 f3.2, ISO 2500. Veteran St Louis Rams running-back Steven Jackson emerges through the dry-ice to play the annual NFL match at Wembley. Unfortunately for Jackson the bravado before the game was misplaced as his team was thrashed by the New England Patriots Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Women's freestyle wrestling, Excel Arena. 9/8/12. 300mm lens, 1/1000 f3.5, ISO 2000. The chance to go and photograph some of the more unusual sports in the Games is something I relish. It’s usually only every four years I get to do events like wrestling. Some of the photographic positions were very close to the action so I could achieve close ups of the action. In this bout the North Korean girl had just lost and was staring straight at me, the despair in her eye all too evident Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Chris Hoy, men's keirin final, Olympic Velodrome 7/8/12. 420mm lens, 1/800th f4, ISO 2000. It was the day that Sir Chris Hoy won the keirin and in so doing beat Steve Redgrave’s record and became Britain’s greatest Olympian in terms of gold medals. So I wanted to illustrate this by going tight on him and the medal at the presentation. It was imperative to get a nice dark background that showed off the medal to its best. He is such a gentleman that after posing with his medal he thanked us all. Not many top sportsmen do that Photograph: Tom Jenkins