Former British Press Awards sports photographer of the year Dave Shopland helped British Olympics taekwondo star Sarah Stevenson overturn a judges’ decision and so receive a bronze medal.
Stevenson looked like leaving the competition after judges failed to spot her land a scoring kick on the face of China’s Cheng Zhong.
According to the Mail on Sunday, British officials appealed the judges’ decision after Shopland showed team manager Gary Hall a photo of the crucial kick.
Hall told the MoS: “We don’t see the video replays or slow motion film but I was getting text messages and calls from back home saying that she had clearly connected.
“That’s when I said that we needed to get a photograph. Then The Mail on Sunday photographer came up with a really solid photograph.
“It was great shot from Dave. We knew then that we had an extra piece of information to finalise the appeal.
“When a referee doesn’t give a point, I’ve never seen anybody overturn a decision like that – not in more than 22 years.”
Shopland took his crucial photo with a Nikon D3 camera, using a 400mm lens and at a shutter speed of 1/1600 second at f2.8.
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