Passages: Heinz Kluetmeier, Olympic Photographer and International Swimming Hall of Famer, 82
Heinz Kluetmeier, who photographed 11 Summer Olympics and was the first photographer inducted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2017, died on Tuesday. He was 82 years old.
Kluetmeier photographed 11 Summer Olympics from 1972-2012 as well as the Winter Games, staffing all but two Olympics from 1972-2016. He worked first for the Associated Press as a teenager before a long and distinguished career at Sports Illustrated, putting him behind the shutter for some of the most iconic moments in swimming history.
Kluetmeier died of complications of Parkinson’s disease and a stroke. Former colleagues at Sports Illustrated penned remembrances of him on Tuesday.
“Heinz took photos that no one even thought to take—much less were able to execute,” Jon Wertheim wrote in a lovely memoriam. “He would find an angle no one had conceived. He would seize on a detail no one else would notice. Writers loved to work with him, yes for his companionability and his dexterity. But also because Heinz would develop a rapport with the athlete and uncover a detail that would make its way into the written story.”
His first SI cover of more than 100 was a photograph of Mark Spitz, connecting to Kluetmeier’s roots as a swimmer in high school. Kluetmeier’s first Olympics was the 1972 Summer Games, highlighted by Spitz’s seven gold medals in the pool. His photo of the U.S. men’s hockey team celebrating the Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics was another of his most famous SI cover shots.
Kluetmeier was a pioneer in the use of split-shot lenses and strobes that captured swimmers above and below the water. He began the practice at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and the most famous image of that type was Michael Phelps’ finish in the men’s 100 butterfly at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in which he edged out Milorad Cavic by .01 seconds as part of his eight gold medals.
Kluetmeier was born in Germany and raised in Milwaukee. He received a degree in engineering from Dartmouth College and spent two years as an engineer before returning to photography full-time. He worked primarily for Sports Illustrated, but his work also appeared in Time and Life magazines. In 1988, he helped USA Swimming raise money via a tabletop book, Swimming: A Collection of Photographs by Heinz Kluetmeier, Commemorating One Hundred Years of Amateur Swimming in America.
“Heinz Kluetmeier was one of the greatest photographers of our time,” former SI colleague Robert Beck wrote on social media. “He was technically years ahead of his peers but he also understood that it was the emotions of the subjects he captured that really made his photography stand out. If you have ever set up a remote camera, you owe Heinz. If you ever set up a camera in the pool at the Olympics (or anywhere else), you owe Heinz. Looking for different angles, you owe Heinz. I could go on and on. He wanted to see great pictures out of you but he also appreciated a solid work ethic.”