SA snapper eyes Olympic supporter gold

Capturing the mood of Rio Games

WHILE the world’s best athletes compete at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, a South African volunteer at the event has set himself a challenge too.

Cape Town’s Martin van Staden wants to attend at least 50 Olympic Games events before the final curtain on August 21.

And he is publishing photographs of his experience on his Instagram account @martycam.

“The game I am playing with my mates is, my goal is to get to 50+ events (for a) gold medal performance, 40+ (wins) silver and 30+ (wins) bronze. I only post one photo per event and currently sit on 19 events after five days,” he said.

Van Staden’s account already reflects a host of sporting events as he is Red Bull SA’s national events manager and former Cape Town marketing manager for the 2010 Fifa World Cup Organising Committee South Africa.

This is not Van Staden’s first Olympic Games.

He was part of the SA hockey management support team at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 and a volunteer in Athens in 2004.

Van Staden describes himself on his Instagram account as a “passionate event manager & wannabe photographer”. His Olympic Games photos show how close he is to the action – including getting to snap big name tennis players like Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams in action.

Van Staden’s pictures also include scenes from gymnastics, synchronised diving, hockey, cycling, equestrian and volleyball matches.

“I am super passionate about the Olympic Games and my life goal has always been to one day bring the games to Africa, hopefully South Africa of course. The way I could get involved and learn about the beast that is the Olympics was to volunteer at the Games.” he said.

Van Staden’s highlight was seeing Olympic medal- winner swimmer Chad le Clos in action. His Instagram account also boasts a photograph of him on the same flight as the Le Clos family en route to Rio de Janeiro.

“So far my highlights have been (the) opening ceremony, seeing Chad win silver, seeing both the Williams sisters and Djokovic lose to the underdogs and, surprisingly, the indoor volleyball was an incredible spectator experience,” Van Staden said. And lowlights? “Definitely seeing ( US swimmer Michael) Phelps beat Chad in the 200m butterfly. I was sitting next to his brothers during the race and we were all gutted at the end. What an incredible family.

“Just as Phelps responded after his ‘ disappointment’ in London 2012, it will be interesting to see Chad’s next move as he looks towards Tokyo 2020.”

Van Staden’s focus this weekend will be on golf, as he has “been allocated to the press operations team at the golf venue”.

He said he would “be shouting for the SA pair over the next four days, in between all the various media requests”.

“It has been super interesting sitting in the press conferences with some big name golfers and hearing their Olympic experience and how humbling it is for them to interact with other athletes from other sports who might not have the same financial backing that golf does,” Van Staden added.

Behind the scenes, he had also been impressed with “how Americans run the TV production side of things”.

“They have special camera golf carts that look like Transformers and a camera that flies through the air on a cabler that must be about 300m long.”

Follow Van Staden @martycam

PICTURES: MARTIN VAN STADEN Michael Phelps in action in the pool. He has won four gold medals already this year, adding up to a combined 22 in his Olympics career.