Getty photographers tell PEOPLE about how they nailed these shots of Paralympians from around the world as they competed for gold Alex Davidson/Getty The have been yet another picture-perfect show of athletic achievement — all with the backdrop of Paris. As approximately 4,400 competitors from 168 countries fought for gold, silver and bronze in sports like wheelchair volleyball, archery, track and field and more, . And after over a week of competition, they're sharing 16 of their favorite shots from across the Games with PEOPLE.
Alex Davidson/Getty As photographer Alex Davidson started shooting goalball, he "realized goalball skills require the athletes to be covering the net in coordination together." "I saw some activity around the goal and had something like this shot in the back of my mind if it happened. Christian King and Tyler Merren of Team USA produced beautiful symmetry jointly defending the goal which seemed to summarize my impressions of the sport nicely.
" Steph Chambers/Getty As Zakia Khudadadi became the first Refugee medalist in Paralympic Games history, photographer Steph Chambers was excited to highlight the taekwondo athlete — but this moment was better than she could have hoped for. "The French fans cheered her on the entire day because she currently lives and trains in France, so I knew a winning moment would be explosive from her. Little did I know that her coach would do most of the celebrating and parading of her!" Chambers tells PEOPLE.
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