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Tulsa cameraman covers PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games

Posted at 9:54 PM, Feb 12, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-12 22:55:43-05

Getting the Olympics on TV calls for a large crew of cameramen, producers and engineers.

One of the guys behind the lens calls Tulsa home.

Tom Stone is the man bringing you the live pictures from half way across the world.

Stone has been holding a camera all his life.

He started at his church in Houston working cameras with a young Joel Osteen.

Stone came to Tulsa for TV production and graduated from Oral Roberts University.

From that point on, he never put down the camera.

From the NFR Rodeo to the Super Bowl. Tom Stone has shot it all. Now he's in South Korea for his ninth Olympics.

“It's one of my favorite things to work… It's not like anything else that you do," said Stone.

Stone’s first Olympics--the Summer games in Atlanta.

He’s captured world class athletes giving it everything they've got-- their hard work, dedication and sacrifice paying off to get the gold medal.

“I want to show how hard these guys worked, what it means to them. I mean you see them at the end when they're done and they've got the tears because they've put in that effort and you want to show that you understand that they've put in the work," said Stone.

In Rio, Stone was assigned to the diving tank.

“Rio was a blast. It was beautiful. It was epic. Those beaches and everything. It was an epic place, I was younger, it was really really exciting to me was Sydney," said Stone.

Every movement that hit his lens, records were being set and broken.

“To me the Olympics says,'hey this world ain't so bad. You see bad news all the time just constant constant constant-- you go to the Olympics it's not like that," said Stone.

In South Korea, Stone will be covering events like figure skating.

He'll have his camera pointed and ready for every triple axel and double toe loop.

“You're sitting there on the edge going, 'man are they going to make it? Are they going to do it? Are they going to be able to do it?' You've seen them 5, 6 times during rehearsal you know because you're there during the day when they're, you've seen them do it 5 or 6 times. You know that they can do it, but are they going to pull it off when it counts?" said Stone.

Getting to Stone’s level wasn't’t easy.

He’s spent many hours on the road.

 “It's a big deal to get asked to go. I mean they're not asking everybody to go and so it is a big deal, it's my job, that's what I do," said Stone.

His job now on a worldwide stage.

“You do feel the pressure. I don't normally. I just kind of go and do what I do, but then the producers will come to you and go, 'hey you realize we had 32-million people watching the show last week?'

Stone treats every show like it's the Olympics.

He's like the 'Where's Waldo' of national television.

From big championship games to the rodeo chutes in Las Vegas--he's always in the action.

“I do the same job. It doesn't matter what it is. I'm trying to think of story lines. I'm trying to move ahead, but then things happen, just bigger things happen in my lens just because of the event, not me," said Stone.

He’s thankful he's been given the chance to take his career around the globe.

“This Tulsa market is outstanding. I don't stand alone trust me. I learned from a bunch of guys here before I ended up going national," said Stone.

 

 

 

 

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