Six Sportret stories worth sharing
Favorite anecdotes from SPORTRET
Sportret by Klaas Jan van der Weij
Sportret is not only a wonderful photographic document; it is good fun to read too. Here are some of our favorite anecdotes from Sportret.
In November we launched an new book made by MENDO: SPORTRET, which bundles a selection of Klaas Jan van der Weij’s impressive contribution to Dutch sports photography. The book contains intriguing, humorous and surprising images, but also some great anecdotes. We made a small selection of favorite stories Klaas Jan shared whilst making SPORTRET.
1 Greg LeMond, 2 Jurre Koolhof and Ruud Gullit, 3 Olympic Winter Games 1994
1 Greg LeMond – Paris-Roubaix (Roubaix, 1992)
During the 1992 Paris-Roubaix stage, former Tour winner Greg LeMond was merely a helper of teammate and winner Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle. LeMond, exhausted, sits in his iconic locker room of the Roubaix velodrome. This photo won the World Press Photo Award in the Sport category.
2 Jurrie Koolhof & Ruud Gullit – VVV-PSV (Venlo, 1987)
In the old De Koel stadium, PSV had won the championship of 1987. Moments after the referee blew his whistle, fans stormed the field. Luckily, I saw it coming and so I cased all my stuff and followed Gullit and Koolhof, who were taking shelter in an underpass. I thought: “if I stay with Gullit, I’ll be alright.”
3 Olympic Winter Games (Lillehammer, 1994)
During my first Olympic Winter Games, when cameras weren’t remotely controlled, I wanted to make a photo from underneath a ski-jump. I wasn’t allowed to be there, but because the TV broadcast had already started, I also couldn’t leave as well. I was ready to take pictures, but I had made one big mistake: I was standing underneath a huge concrete ramp, and I couldn’t see when skiers would fly over my head. Luckily, a girl on one of the stages completely understood my problem and so she signalled when I had to take a photo. With her help, I took this picture.
‘If I stay with Gullit, I’ll be alright.’
‘If I stay with Gullit, I’ll be alright.’
4 Joost Luiten, 5 Johan Cruijff, 6 Paul Gascoigne
4 Joost Luiten – KLM Open (Zandvoort, 2014)
One play before I took this picture, I was laying on a small hill with three other photographers. We had to be completely quiet. We had to stop moving when Luiten stopped moving. I was quiet as a mouse, but I when I focused my camera, I accidentally pressed too hard and took a picture. Luiten heard the small sound my camera produced during autofocusing, and directly lost it. “I don’t know who it is, but if I lose this match, it’s your fault!” Luiten won the tournament.
5 Johan Cruijff (Amsterdam, 1988)
My career basically started with this picture. I used to take pictures of amateur matches, but now Dutch newspaper Het Parool asked me to take some pictures of an Ajax training. When I sneaked into the small, old training hall, Johan Cruijff walked towards me. I feared that he would be angry because I sneaked in, but he only said: “well, boy, do your best. Make something beautiful.” A moment later, he stepped on the ball and watched the training. I knew instantly: this is the shot. This is Cruijff. When I developed the pictures at home, the newspaper called me. Apparently, Cruijff had resigned, and so they asked me if I had taken a picture of him that day. I sure did! After I sent that picture to Het Parool, I never again photographed amateur matches.
6 Paul Gascoigne – European Championship soccer (London, 1996)
I just had to see this game: one doesn’t easily forget a soccer match between Scotland and England, in Wembley Stadium. It’s one of the best games I have ever witnessed, the atmosphere was exhilarating. I was on the spare list, so I wasn’t in the section with the other photographers. Then, when Cascoigne scored, he dropped right before the boarding where I sat behind. All of a sudden, my unhandy position turned out to be rather neat.
SPORTRET is a book that bundles a selection of sports photographs from award-winning Dutch photographer Klaas Jan van der Weij. SPORTRET is made by MENDO and contains over 380 pages with nothing but intriguing, humorous, surprising images and unbelievable anecdotes.
![]([{"width":60,"height":76,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-60x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":100,"height":127,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-100x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":200,"height":254,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-200x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":350,"height":444,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-350x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":500,"height":634,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-500x0-c-default.jpg"}])
Continue reading
Made and published by us
We don't just sell books... we make them too, which you can see in the showcase of our 33 MENDO-made books. Here’s the story of how our MENDO publishing house…
Work in progress: the Pontsteiger book
A first glimpse at a new book project with local significance
An eye-catching new building rises along the banks of the IJ-river. MENDO is very proud to design and publish a book about it.
Some favorite contributions
For our newest book MOAM and MENDO asked 100 Dutch creatives to show and tell us what fashion in Amsterdam is.
A tough lesson in human compassion
Interview with Jermain Cikic
Interview with Jermain Cikic, former MENDO employee, who created a personal and evocative documentation of a homeless shelter in Amsterdam, at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
Challenging your professional life
Interview
In March, MENDO and Rebel launched a book called Challenge Your Professional Life—a book that is more relevant now than ever. We talked with Rebels Lenny van Klink and Wout…
Picturing the Streets of Amsterdam
Meet the photographers of 'Streets of Amsterdam’
‘Streets of Amsterdam’ editor Joost Bastmeijer introduces four of the book’s contributing photographers.
Because people matter
Pie Aerts is one of the world’s most promising documentary photographers and he’s working on a spectacular new book with MENDO.
Contributor's favorites
Five Amsterdam Uncovered contributors share their absolute favorite Amsterdam things from the book.
London: a street photographer’s idea of paradise
A sneak preview on our next book in the Streets Of... series
We're currently finalizing Streets of London, the second publication in our Streets of... series. Editor Mikel van den Boogaard learned that London can be considered as a street photographer's idea…
Introducing “Miss Avocado”: Colette Dike
Interview
We had a moment to talk with Colette, the mastermind behind most of the recipes you’ll find in The Avocado Show book.
The best images from books at MENDO
The books at MENDO offer a treasure trove of visually inspiring images. MENDO will dive into the imagery regularly and dig up some of the best images around. Enjoy Visual…
Where runway meets the street, according to Highsnobiety
Interview with Jian DeLeon
Highsnobiety is an online publication that covers trends and news in fashion, art, music, and culture. It recently launched its first book. MENDO talked with Highsnobiety’s Editorial Director Jian DeLeon.
MENDO staff wanted
MENDO is looking for a store manager with an eye for detail & beauty and a passion for books.
concrete
In our series Shelf Sessions we climb the shelves of MENDO’s friends. In this episode: Rob Wagemans, Architect, Creative Director, and Founder at concrete architectural associates.
MENDO and ZENOLOGY create book-inspired room perfume
'Libri' captures the soul of a book, the ink and the paper it's printed on
ZENOLOGY and MENDO joined forces to capture the soul of a book, the ink and the paper it's printed on.
Thank you for supporting MENDO
Why we do what we do
Even in these surreal times, we send newsletters and post messages on social media. Our own feelings on this are ambiguous. We've written a little note to explain why we…
Lauren Greenfield visited MENDO to sign Generation Wealth
Signed copies of highly anticipated book
Lauren Greenfield spent 25 years documenting wealth and now her highly anticipated book has been published: Generation Wealth.
Inez & Vinoodh: a wild, fantastic collaboration
Photographer's Profile
Our friends from Amsterdam’s Ravestijn Gallery have the honour to host Inez & Vinoodh’s 'I SEE YOU IN EVERYTHING' exhibition. In this Photographer’s Profile, we focus on the two Dutch…
Shelf Sessions: Emilia van Lynden
Unseen Amsterdam
In our series Shelf Sessions we climb the shelves of MENDO’s friends. In this episode: Emilia van Lynden, (ex) Artistic Director of Unseen Amsterdam.
How Dior defined the new look of fashion
Inside fashion houses
With the greatest names in fashion all under one roof, you could consider MENDO the house of all houses. In every episode we highlight one of the biggest names in…