The Guardian and Observer sport photographer Tom Jenkins selects his favourite images from the thousands of frames that he shot during 2021 and recalls the stories behind them
Normally the summer Olympics are the pinnacle event for me to cover, but this year was not at all normal and I decided to give Tokyo a miss. Not only did my family not want me going, there were other factors to discourage me, not least the new rules that meant I might have very limited access. So instead my year was dominated by football, the peak being the final of the Euros at Wembley, a game that brought the country to a standstill and became one of the most-watched moments in British television history.