WELL TIMED SPORTS PHOTOS THAT WILL MAKE YOUR JAW DROP

There are moments within sports that can only be captured by the highest-resolution cameras. Even with the ultimate photographic tools at your disposal, it is incredibly difficult to capture the perfect moment. Here is a compilation of perfectly timed photos where the camera captured something truly special.

Infestation

This tennis player has just seen a big rat run across the pitch. He instinctively tries to jump into the arms of a large man, but there are none around, so he adapts. Aiming carefully, he fires a tennis ball in the direction of the disgusting rodent, scaring it away. So you see, even millionaire athletes sometimes have to do their part to contribute to the upkeep of the court.

Getting Her Fish Face Ready

Most fish don’t do a lot of diving but this diver looks like she is getting into character by putting on her best fish face before she hits the water regardless. What’s funny is that divers are subjected to intense scrutiny about everything they do with their bodies. Move a leg too far one way or arch your back too much and there goes your gold medal. However, your facial expressions aren’t judged; which is great for this enthusiastic diver. If they were she’d definitely be out of the competition.

Tennis Is Dangerous

We know what you’re thinking – that crocodile is eating that man’s armpit! But in reality, no such thing happened, it is but a trick of the camera. The crocodile is only a picture of a crocodile. Real crocodiles have been forbidden from setting foot on a tennis court since April 1927. We won’t say any more – our readers don’t need reminding of that awful event.

A Flip Throw

Although not normally seen in games, a flip throw is a way for a soccer player to throw the ball back into play. It takes extreme strength and agility. However, if done correctly, it allows a player to launch the ball much further than a normal throw in. This woman was snapped doing her flip throw mid-way, making for a very cool picture.

Behold

It has come to pass. The moment that we all dreaded. The experts warned us, but we in our arrogance did not heed their warnings. Now our days will be dark and our nights will be fire, our prayers will go unanswered and our children will grow up without hope. The ball has gained sentience. Even writing these words are painful, but they must be written, so that future generations will know that once things were different.

Head Injuries

Playing American football can be injurious to the health of the athletes. This is because they often receive heavy blows to the head, which is problematic because that is where the human brain is situated. The brain is the organ that allows us to think and store memories, it also is the central computer that controls all other bodily processes. In short, the head is an important part of the human body. This unfortunate man has lost his entirely!

Freeze In Position

This tennis player is pretending that she is a statue of a pigeon. Why is she doing this? We don’t know, but we can make an educated guess. Before becoming a professional athlete, she was a promising ornithologist. She was ready to take the world of bird-based science by storm, but she had a passion for tennis that won out in the end. In the middle of a game, she noticed her old university professor in the crowd and struck this pose in the hope that he wouldn’t see her.

A Slimy Time

This picture is fantastic. We see an American football player pouring out a bucket of yellow slime, standard practice at the beginning of a game for all I know. His teammates have surprised him by placing the head of an elderly spectator inside the bucket. You can see from the expression on the sportsman’s face that he is amused by this prank, as indeed he will expect new recruits to be when he, in turn, pranks them in the future.

Good and Beautiful

The Ancient Greeks respected the beauty of the human form, especially during sporting events. This is why they invented the Olympics, and why the athletes in the competition competed naked. In this culture, physical beauty was divine – the word kaloskagathos combines the concepts of ‘handsome’ and ‘good/noble’. So imagine what they would think of the misshapen monster that we see in the following photograph. Luckily, we are far less shallow today.

Don’t Lose Your Head Over It

There are perfectly timed sports photos that look amazing or amusing, and then there are…well, photos like this one. At first look, one won’t know what they’re looking at. It looks like a bizarre monster from a horror movie. In this case, we’re treated to what is actually a pretty horrifying photo as the gymnast bends her back and neck at such an extreme angle that for a moment, she appears to be headless. Kudos to the photographer for this well-timed, if slightly unsettling, photo.

Taking Five

This athlete has become fatigued from playing tennis, and it’s easy to understand why. The sport requires that players run in all directions like crazy people, hitting a small ball to the other side of a net, only for another person to rudely send it back. Neither of them wants it. This guy has thought to himself that enough is enough, it’s time to lie down for a few minutes and get my breath back. Also, he is floating, which is nice.

May The Force Be With You

To a layman, it appears that telekinetic abilities should count as an unfair advantage when playing the sport of baseball. It would allow a batter to alter the path of the ball, both when it has been thrown by the pitcher and after he has hit it. If you are in the field, you could use the ability to make sure to catch the ball. Yet there are no rules against this, which is why this batter is arrogantly flaunting his supernatural abilities with no shame at all.

Turbulent Tag

Playing the position of the catcher can be very dangerous, especially in the World Series. That when things are at their most heated. In order to tag home plate, players on third base can run into and try to knock the ball out of the catcher’s hand.

Hard Headed

It may take you a moment to realize what you are looking at, but this is a photo of Pittsburgh Steeler Antwaan Randle El, in 2003. His head is being turned almost all the way around as a player from the other team grips onto his facemask. The player was called for the penalty. Luckily, Antwaan was not seriously injured. That fact itself is a miracle seeing as he was completely stretched out in a manner that looks in no way normal for the human body.

Synchronized Hurdling

This perfectly timed sports photo has it all. It not only gives you an idea of the speed, timing, and agility required to be an elite hurdler, but it also shows you the sheer concentration needed to succeed in the event. Not only that, but this photo makes you really, really wonder which of these two fast women ended up actually winning the race! In this case I think it depends on who has the longest lef or arm. I think the girl in the back might have won.

Balling With Flair

This isn’t something that we’d expect to see on the court. Basketball is a sport that requires a lot of grace and athleticism but also has a macho attitude to it that allows players to strut around the court like they’re hot stuff. It’s great when a photo like this comes out, showing that even supposedly tough basketball players can look rather gentle and graceful at times. What was the New York Knicks player doing here? Your guess is as good as ours.

Did You Lose Something?

Like all performers, athletes have that little part of their brains that obsesses over everything that could go wrong during a big competition. When you’re preparing for the hurdles in the Olympics, “losing your shoe” has to be pretty high on that list. But from the way this Ethiopian Olympian is skying over this hurdle, losing a shoe doesn’t seem to have held her back much. She actually went on to qualify for the Olympic final in this race despite her shoe falling off!

Hulking Out

This photo makes it look like the gymnast pictured has decided that a mid-air transformation into the Hulk himself is the best way to win the competition. On his face, you will read nothing but the purest of intensity. Hey, we’re not judging – who knows what kind of concentration is required to flip in the air several times while twirling for good measure. Still, you can’t deny that this isn’t the most flattering photo he’s probably had taken.

The Horror! The Horror!

If you didn’t see the facial expressions of these two professional soccer players, you would think that this was a pretty standard photo. However, the photographer captured a split second where each man has a look of absolute horror on his face. This makes us all wonder and question what exactly could happen on a soccer field to prompt this sort of reaction? Shouldn’t one player at least be happy about whatever’s happening, since they’re on opposite teams?

Wear Your Water Helmet

Apparently, head injuries have become such a concern that even swimming has mandated that their athletes wear helmets. What other reason could exist for what appears to be a clear helmet on top of this swimmer’s head as he emerges from the water? And as for his face, let’s not even get into the strange shape that the water has made there. The swimmer certainly isn’t distracted by any of this, though – look at the concentration! That said, we can’t exactly look into his eyes.

Here I Am, Upside Down

Considering how nasty this bull toss and resulting crash landing must have been, this photo captures what appears to be a very serene moment. In slow motion it would look as if he were in deep contemplation. It’s the calm before the storm, however. In a split second, the rider will land and immediately have to worry about the very angry bull as (hopefully) rodeo clowns arrive to distract the bull and redirect his anger elsewhere as he escapes. That said, we hope he lands and is concious.

I’ll Just Relax Here

Hey, coach! That’s not a seat you’re resting on, that’s an actual person! I mean, I get that gymnasts are rather small and what not, but you can’t just be planting your tush wherever you want. It might result in a few crushed bones or something. In all likelihood, this Brazilian coach is applying a little pressure on the gymnast’s back to help her get a deeper stretch. If you get so flexible that you need a full-grown man sitting on you to get a good stretch, good for you!

The King Has Arrived

In an otherwise dreary one-sided matchup between two NBA teams, the ref on the left here made the game worth watching by briefly aligning his head with the advertisement behind him in a pretty humorous way. See, the other two are just regular referees, but our guy on the left, he’s the king! He’s wearing a crown and everything to prove it! So while you might undermine all the other referees, you certainly won’t have the guts to cross him.

That’s One Tough Ref

Okay, some referees are tough because they call games strictly by the rules, and then there’s this guy. Not only is this referee dragging one player behind him like it’s no big deal, but he’s got a second one snatched up by the shirt. It appears that this tough referee be giving him a strongly worded lecture, as well. And they’re rugby players, not exactly wimps! I want to know what these guys did to get on this ref’s bad side. It doesn’t matter, at the end of the day, he is calling the shots.

One-Handed Pushups

While diving catches are generally no big deal to top-notch baseball players, they sometimes look a little funny when preserved by a photographer’s lens. That said, this is one of the pictures that shows just how funny a catch can look. In this photo, the Venezuelan player appears to be balancing his entire body weight on just his right hand. That’s an impressive feat; I don’t care who you are! Maybe his second sport is gymnastics? That wouldn’t at all be shocking.

Oh, Hi There!

Let’s consider the awkwardness of this moment for a second. First of all, you have the wrestler in red tights, who is pointing his butt right at the camera. Then there’s the wrestler in blue tights, who appears to be in the worst possible position right now. If the other wrestler passes gas, he may need an ambulance. And to top it all off, the blue wrestler just happened to meet the camera’s lens with his gaze at just the right moment. Awkward. That is just the perfect way to describe this picture.

From A Different Perspective

Talk about getting a different view of the world! This motocross rider is just hanging out upside down as if he’s not engaged in a supremely dangerous activity that would make most of us freeze up in absolute fear. There’s nothing quite like extreme athletes who take things that the rest of us wouldn’t dare trying even once and do them so many times that they somehow become routine. This guy accomplishes this jump with extreme confidence.

The Amazing Spider Goalie

This photo displays what can only be called full on determination. As a goaltender, you have to do whatever you can to block the other team’s shots. It doesn’t have to look pretty and it doesn’t matter what you block shots with: arms, hands, head, legs, whatever! This goalie has completely embraced this concept and is taking no chances, not only extending her arms but also her legs in an effort to block as much of the goal as possible. And look at her facial expression! That’s concentration, folks.

No Helmet, No Problem

The look of serenity on this Notre Dame running back’s face is pretty inexplicable. Not only is he literally in the process of being tackled by another player, but he’s surrounded by huge, hulking behemoths who want to smash him if their teammate’s tackle attempt fails. Not only that, but he’s lost his helmet, too, so his head and face are unprotected! No big deal for this guy, though…apparently. Hopefully, this guy doesn’t take a huge hit to the head. If that happens he’d definitely going to be in serious damage.

Fun on the Ice

On and off the ice, skaters are naturally extremely graceful people. Seeing these extremely agile balancing acts makes us all wonder how it’s done. Holding your partner by the hip while they are splayed out like starfish is no small feat! Not to mention the fact that the male skaters need to balance their own bodies on the ice with the added pressure of someone else’s weight on them. These lovely partners deserve a serious round of applause. Well done team!

Amazing Cheerleader

A Great Athlete

Cameraman Giving Attention

Girl Power

Mirror Effect

Are They Dancing?