​"The photographer Bettina von Zwehl portrayed athletes at different stages of their careers, in settings where they live or train ... The slow, calm process associated with von Zwehl's 10x8 plate camera and precise lighting bring s a luminous quality to her sitters that is intensified by the reduction of detail in the background, often reminiscent of a painted 19th century studio backdrop. 

Jessica Ennis stands proud and strong against a wall of grass at the Sheffield stadium where she started her career; Rebecca Adlington is pictured in front of the rich, muted tones of the rockery garden at Nottingham University - an area she dreaded tackling on her training runs in the university grounds; and Savannah Marshall is captured in a gridded corner of ExCel, where the women's boxing squad will compete in the Olympic Games." 

- Extract from 'Road to 2012' (National Portrait Gallery, London 2012)