Armchair fans assemble: the quadrennial spectacle of sporting greatness is almost upon us. The 2024 Paris Olympic Games take place from July 26 to August 11, followed by the Paralympics from August 28 to September 8.
With the final countdown under way, we’ve compiled a round-up of the best new documentaries and some classic viewing to get you in the spirit. Let the games begin.
Daley: Olympic Superstar
Can you believe it is 40 years since Daley Thompson won his second Olympic decathlon gold? Us neither, but we have doubled checked the maths and yep, it is indeed that long since 1984.
A new feature documentary explores Thompson’s life and sporting achievements, offering insight into his rise from humble beginnings to becoming one of the greatest all-round athletes in the world.
Sharing their perspectives are Dame Denise Lewis, Lord Sebastian Coe and Linford Christie, as well as Caitlyn Jenner and Thompson’s former rival-turned-good friend Jurgen Hingsen.
Available to watch on BBC iPlayer
Simone Biles Rising
When it comes to describing the phenomenal athletic prowess of gymnast Simone Biles - a four-time Olympic gold medallist and 23-time world champion - the usual superlatives fall short.
At Tokyo 2020, the US star was expected to enjoy another gold rush. But things didn’t unfold that way. Instead, she experienced something that every gymnast fears: the dreaded “twisties”.
Put simply, the twisties make it impossible to know up from down, left from right, or even where you are in the air. When performing complex and high-risk gymnastics moves, pinpoint accuracy is crucial to avoid injury. That ability had deserted Biles.
She withdrew from four of her five remaining finals. While some critics lambasted her for “quitting”, Biles was hailed around the world as a brave advocate for mental health.
This new four-part Netflix documentary series follows her return to the top of the sport, as Biles prepares for Paris 2024 and what she herself has dubbed “a redemption tour”.
Available to watch on Netflix
Eilish McColgan: Running in the Family
This one-hour documentary, which aired last year and is still available to watch on BBC iPlayer, charts the journey of Scottish runner Eilish McColgan as she follows in the footsteps of her mother Liz by carving a successful career in world-class athletics.
Through candid interviews, archive film and behind-the-scenes footage, we see the duo reflect on their respective paths and fascinating two-prong relationship as mother-daughter and coach-athlete.
Dundee-born Liz Nuttall (nee McColgan) burst into the public consciousness when she won gold in the 10,000m at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. She went on to take silver over the same distance at the 1988 Olympics and became a world champion in 1991.
Eilish McColgan has claimed Commonwealth Games gold at 10,000m and silver at 5,000m, as well as an impressive clutch of medals at European level. After 16 months blighted by injury, she is set to compete for Team GB at Paris 2024, her fourth Olympics.
Available to watch on BBC iPlayer
Linford
The only British man to win gold over 100m at the Olympics, World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games, sprinter Linford Christie became a household name in the 1990s.
A new BBC documentary lays bare the highs and lows of his career, from the glory of his medal haul to the fallout of failing a drugs test after coming out of retirement for one last race.
Coming to BBC iPlayer on July 25
Born To Fly
At just 24, Armand “Mondo” Duplantis is already considered the greatest pole vaulter of all-time. To date, the Swedish-American athlete and reigning Olympic champion has broken the world record eight times.
Film director Brennan Robideaux first started following Duplantis’s story when the then-teenage star began turning heads as a high school pole vaulter in his hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana.
“There was something magical about a kid embarking on a journey to be the best in something as obscure as pole vaulting,” says Robideaux. “From the beginning, I thought of Mondo as a chess prodigy - someone who excels in something so few understand.”
Available to watch now on Olympics.com
August 4th: An Olympic Odyssey
What is the most famous day in Olympic history? The title of the programme is perhaps a giveaway. But we’re not just talking about one day, rather a series of stellar achievements that span the decades and they all happened on August 4.
USA track star Jesse Owens humiliating Adolf Hitler in Berlin in 1936 on his way to winning four gold medals. Dutch legend Fanny Blankers-Koen obliterating prejudice about her age, gender and motherhood as she claimed a quartet of golds in London in 1948.
A long overdue era of inclusivity being ushered in with the first televised Paralympics in Toronto in 1975. Carl Lewis winning the 100m in Los Angeles in 1984.
The magic of “Super Saturday” at London 2012 where Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford all won Olympic gold. Not to forget skateboarding prodigy Sky Brown becoming Team GB’s youngest-ever medallist, aged 13, with bronze at Tokyo 2020.
Watch now on Eurosport and Discovery+
Chariots of Fire
The 1981 film, starring Ben Cross and Ian Charleson as 1924 Olympians Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell respectively, remains a celluloid masterpiece.
I defy anyone not to get goosebumps while watching the opening scenes, filmed at West Sands Beach in St Andrews, as the soaring title track by Vangelis plays out.
Geordie
Speaking of classics, lest we forget the 1955 film with Bill Travers as the titular Geordie MacTaggart, the son of a Highland gamekeeper who is selected to compete at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne as a hammer thrower.
The cast includes the late great Alastair Sim as the local laird and a then 11-year-old Paul Young, who would later go on to roles in High Road, The Tales of Para Handy and Still Game, playing a childhood version of Geordie.
Tracking down a copy is a tricky business these days, but well-worth the effort for the nostalgic, feel-good vibes.
Available to buy on DVD at Amazon
Sprint
The name Usain Bolt will be forever synonymous with world and Olympic dominance over 100m and 200m. Now, seven years after the Jamaican track legend retired, there is a fresh crop of sprint stars on the global stage, all seeking to emulate his history-making success.
This Netflix documentary series follows the build-up to the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Among the competitors is Florida-born Noah Lyles, a six-time world gold medallist who has set his sights on breaking Bolt’s records.
The six-part show covers the tumultuous journey of Sha’Carri Richardson, who after being kicked off the US team for Tokyo 2020 when she tested positive for marijuana use, has fought her way back to compete at Paris 2024.
It also delves into the fierce and unflinching rivalry between Jamaican trio Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah.
Available to watch on Netflix
Adam Hills: Foot Fault
At 18, Adam Hills quit his job as a professional tennis coach to pursue a dream of becoming a stand-up comedian. The Australian-born star is now the co-host of Channel 4 panel show The Last Leg.
A new Sky documentary film sees Hills - who was born without a right foot and wears a prosthesis - shine a spotlight on para-standing tennis in a bid to highlight its potential as a future Grand Slam and Paralympic event.
Hill examines the barriers faced by aspiring tennis players with a range of disabilities - who can’t or don’t want to play in a wheelchair - as they fight for their sport to be included at the highest level.
Coming to Channel 4 in August
Kara Hanlon: Dare to Dream
Stornoway-born swimmer Kara Hanlon is a four-time British champion. A new BBC ALBA documentary chronicles her story from growing up in Lewis, where she learned to swim in a community pool, to training for the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Hanlon, now 27, is the fastest 50m and 100m female breaststroker in Scottish history. She was also the first swimmer from the Western Isles to represent Scotland at a Commonwealth Games, competing at Birmingham 2022.
Watch on BBC ALBA, July 24, at 9pm and on BBC iPlayer (in Gaelic with English subtitles)
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