“Take him onto the national team”: cameraman from Kazakhstan becomes social media star

Stills from the video

Tengrinews.kz — During the Kazakhstan Track and Field Championships, a video went viral on social media showing a camera operator running almost as fast as the athletes. Kazakhstanis are suggesting he be taken onto the national team.

The unusual video was posted by coach Asiya Rabayeva. In it, the camera operator films the 100-meter race and runs at roughly the same speed as the athletes.

In less than a day, the video gained 500,000 views and hundreds of admiring comments.

“I am always amazed that camera operators run faster than athletes. How is that even possible?”;

“The camera operator is great, he survives in any situation”;

“If it weren’t for the camera, he would definitely have taken first place”;

“Take the camera operator onto Kazakhstan’s national team! Today he is breaking all records for fame,” social media users wrote.

“Many people can’t do this”: cameraman speaks about viral video

The camera operator who suddenly became famous is named Ibrai Tulemissov. He does not work for a sports channel or the Athletics Federation, but for the Shymkent Sports Department.

Similar videos had already appeared on his social media accounts, showing how he keeps up with athletes during competitions. But this particular video took off and made him a star.

“This video simply blew up, but I film shots like this every day,” he told our correspondent.

The camera operator’s good physical shape, which allows him to make such runs, is explained by the fact that he also does sports himself.

“I train every day, run, ride a bicycle, spend weekends in the mountains. I am a track and field athlete, skyrunner, cyclist, rider, swimmer, skier — basically everything connected with dynamics and extreme sports,” he shared.

“How long have you been filming competitions, and what is specific about the work of a sports camera operator?”

“I used to shoot films and music videos, but I got bored, so I started filming sports. Since I am an athlete myself, 2.5 years ago I was invited to the Shymkent Sports Department to apply these filming skills in sports. Many camera operators are not able to film athletes,” Ibrai said.

According to him, during competitions he has to take part in one run in each category and sometimes run the distance again because of a false start.