Reuters photographer helps reverse decision, secures gold medal for German shot putter at World Championships

Storl’s attempt was declared valid thanks to this picture, which shows his foot behind the line. Credits: Reuters

In sports, games and medals are often won and lost on small margins where sometimes referee play as major role. Be it an offside call that might have turned into a goal or a marginal LBW decision that deprived a bowler from a deserved wicket, there is a strong case for technology to be used more by umpires and referees who otherwise might have decided the game based on their own judgement.

Last week during the shot put finals at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, German shot putter David Storl won a gold medal thanks to a photo that almost got deleted, but which helped reverse an erroneous decision.

The photo was taken by Reuters photographer Kai Pfaffenbach, who had no idea that it would change the course of the event. He set up one of his cameras on the ground next to the ring to get a better view of the action.

When Storl’s final throw was judged a foul, a lengthy argument followed. It was then that Storl ran over to the photographer, who was on the verge of deleting the photos. The six frames he captured proved that the referees were wrong and Storl’s attempt was not a foul.

Once the judges saw the photos, they overturned their original decision, a measurement was taken, and Storl earned the gold medal as nobody managed to better his final attempt.

Meanwhile, Pfaffenbach has become an instant Internet celebrity, as newspapers all over the world ran stories which highlighted his contribution. “It was then that I really realised how grateful [I was],” the photographer told Canon Professional Network.

“I did something special while I only tried to do my job as professionally as ever.”