Heinz Klutmayr was once asked by a Sports Illustrated staff member to name his most memorable Olympic photo.
That staff member was me.
The famous sports photographer did not hesitate.
“I would have to say Olympic hockey photos taken from Lake Placid,” he said. “This is the only cover we’ve ever published without cover language. There was no need for it.”
The photo appeared on the cover of SI magazine on March 3, 1980. This was the definitive photograph of a defining sports moment for Americans in the 20th century: the celebration of the U.S. hockey team’s improbable victory over the Soviet Union at the Lake Placid Olympics.
One of Krutmeier’s photos of Americans celebrating. (Photo: Heinz Kluetmeier / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Born in Berlin and educated in the United States, Krutmeier was hired by Time Inc. in 1969 as a photographer for Life and Sports Illustrated. His career includes shooting over 100 Sports Illustrated covers, including memorable photos of Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps.
He died early Tuesday at the age of 82 from complications from Parkinson’s disease and a stroke. SI’s Jon Wertheim wrote a nice review, saying Krootmayer “didn’t take the picture, he gave us the picture.”
“Heinz Klutmayer was one of the greatest photographers of our time,” said former SI colleague Robert Beck in an Instagram post. “While technically he was years ahead of his peers, he also understood that what really made his photographs stand out was the emotion of the subjects he captured.
“If you’ve ever set up a remote camera, thank you Heinz. If you’ve ever set up a camera in an Olympic pool (or anywhere else), thank you Heinz. Thanks to Heinz, I was able to keep going. He wanted to see your great photos, but he also appreciated your solid work ethic.”
Krootmayer could shoot anything, but he was truly an Olympic junkie. He was a pioneer in underwater sports photography, taking stunning frame-by-frame photos of Phelps swimming underwater during the 2008 Beijing Games.
“I’ve always been interested in underwater photography, and this magazine has a history of trying something different and being ahead of the curve,” Krutmeyer said in 2008. A lot of people saw it in magazines and said, “Let’s try it.” The first time I got permission to put a camera underwater was in Barcelona, after months of negotiations. The year before that, I had secretly hidden a camera underwater at the World Swimming Championships.
“One of the members of the technical committee said we could put it in the pool and if anyone didn’t like it we could pull it out before the race. I remember pulling it out of the pool in Perth, Australia. The person who wanted to help me was Mel Stewart, who was the world champion and 200 butterfly record holder, so I did it in his honor. , we threw the camera into the pool at his race in Barcelona. We had a fisheye lens and during the first lap of his swim, the water was so smooth that it was right over his head. You could read the scoreboard through the water. I remember when we were putting the camera in, the armed security guard said, “You can’t put this camera in. It could be a bomb.” I finally told the pool supervisor, “I’m going to the pool in my bathing suit, and if there’s a problem, I’ll jump in and pull you out.” It was published in a magazine without any problems.
“Nowadays, more and more people want to do it, so you almost have to allocate space at the bottom of the pool. It’s very valuable real estate, but people want to take stroke shots and beautiful photos. .”
(Photo: Heinz Kluetmeier / Sports Illustrated via Getty Image)
