China has developed some of the toughest women weightlifters in the world. TIME contract photographer James Nachtwey documented China’s team as they prepared for the 2012 Olympic games in London.
From drought-cracked earth in Yemen and massive floods in China to violent protests in California and Olympic preparation in London, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.
Although she is one of the youngest athletes set to compete in this summer’s Olympic games, 15-year-old Carolina Mendoza displays a maturity beyond her years through her training. TIME commissioned photographer Tomas Munita to photograph Mendoza as she prepared for London.
The dusty Russian town of Khasav-Yurt, which the locals like to call the Wrestlers’ Mecca, boasts the greatest concentration of wrestling champions in the world. Photographer Yuri Kozyrev documented the young athletes at their school in the North Caucasus.
Neil Leifer spent a year traversing the globe to photograph athletes for TIME’s 1984 Olympics special issue. From the plains of Kenya to Russia’s Red Square to The Great Wall of China, Leifer used grand backdrops to photograph the athletic stars of the day.
Afghan boxer Sadaf Rahimi’s path to London has ended after the International Boxing Association decided on July 18 that she could not compete, citing concerns that boxing against opponents of much higher standards might threaten her safety in the ring.
Olympic medalists from the 1948 games in London remember their experiences in the post-war ‘austerity’ Olympics. Even with a tiny budget and a war-worn country, the athletes managed to have a good time.
In his portrait series of gold-medal hopefuls for TIME’s 2012 Olympics special issue, Martin Schoeller shows three U.S. team members—gymnast Gabby Douglas, runner Lolo Jones and swimmer Ryan Lochte—whose passion for sport isn’t contained by training center walls.
This is where every girl who wants to be an elite gymnast must come, at some point in her career, to pay tithings, in the form of blood, sweat, and often tears, to Martha Karolyi.
From Memorial Day observances in the United States and an exchange of bodies in the West Bank to the massacre in Syria and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in England, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.
