LibGuides: Olympics: Media

Featured Streaming Media

Try these videos to get started. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

Want more on finding media? Try Articles & Media.

A&E The First Olympics In Search of History journeys 2,000 years from ancient times to the present, taking a closer look at the events, places, and hidden mysteries that have puzzled and inspired historians and experts across the ages. Episode: The First Olympics: Olympia, where every four years Greek city-states set aside differences and laid down arms to compete in these peaceful games established to honor Zeus.
Back on Board: Greg Louganis (1:26:26) A refreshingly candid documentary film about this four-time Olympic champion, "Back on Board" follows Greg Louganis over three years as he struggles with financial security and reunites with the sport he once dominated but not welcomed in. The threat of losing his house during the recent financial crisis forces Louganis to re-evaluate the choices, relationships, and missed opportunities of his career. With unprecedented access, the film reveals the complicated life of an athlete whose grace, beauty, and courage sparked a worldwide fascination with diving. It chronicles Louganis' rise from a difficult upbringing to nearly universal acclaim as the greatest diver ever, and from pioneering openly gay athlete with HIV to an overlooked sports icon. "Back on Board" is the engrossing story of an American legend as he re-emerges on the world stage to combat prejudice, promote tolerance, and return to the diving world after a long period of absence to act as a mentor to the next generation.
BBC First Olympian (51:11) Documentary about a skeleton found in Southern Italy. The bone structure suggests the owner was an ancient athlete. Scientists explain the mystery of the tomb & the world of the ancient Olympics using dramatisation. Modern athletes from Loughborough University try to gain an insight into the events in which an ancient pentathlete competed, by testing out the equipment which they used.
HBO The Weight of Gold (59:45) From HBO Sports comes a poignant, much-needed documentary look at the widespread mental health issues among Olympic athletes, exposing the lack of resources in place to help them sustain life beyond their sports. Directed and executive produced by filmmaker Brett Rapkin – and narrated by the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps – The Weight of Gold features profound interviews with top Olympic athletes who open up about the crippling depression rampant among competitors – particularly after the Games are over. The Olympians, including Phelps, who speaks extensively about his personal battles with mental health, explain how debilitating the extreme pressures of competition, feelings of inadequacy, and financial burdens can be – and ultimately mourn the tragic fate that these circumstances have brought to peers who have taken their own lives. A timely and honest reflection on mental health in athletics, The Weight of Gold brings to light the life-threatening struggles of Olympic athletes, giving this often overlooked crisis the attention it deserves.
Hitler's Games: Berlin 1936 (51:32) Summer 1936. The Berlin Olympics, organized by the Nazi regime, acted as a grand showcase for an athletic, peaceful and rejuvenated Germany. Following lengthy debates, the great democracies of the world agreed to send their athletes to the Reich capital. For fifteen days, the Olympics made time stand still. The violence and hatred that held sway up until then in the streets of Berlin suddenly vanished, replaced by human communion around sport celebrations. This is the story of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, from the competition's meticulous preparation to the games themselves, transformed by Nazi propaganda into a grandiose spectacle dedicated to the glory of the Reich.
Olympic Pride, American Prejudice (1:13:12) Olympic Pride, American Prejudice delves into the climate surrounding the courageous 18 African American athletes who carried the weight and hopes of an entire movement on their shoulders as they boarded a ship to Berlin Olympic Games in 1936 - a Nazi propaganda pageant that did not welcome their participation and considered them second class citizens. Their heroic turn at the Games became a seminal precursor to the Civil Rights Movement. Narrated by executive producer and Hollywood actor Blair Underwood.
PBS The Boys of '36 (The Boys in the Boat, 53:39) In 1936, nine boys from the University of Washington took the rowing world and a nation by storm, when their eight-oar crew team captured the gold medal at the Olympics in Berlin. The boy's victory, and the obstacles, inspired a nation struggling to emerge from the depths of the Depression.
PBS The Real Olympics: A History of the Ancient and Modern Olympic Games (01:50:46) The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece were held every four years and without interruption for nearly twelve centuries. The Games were almost 800 years old when Jesus Christ was born, and continued for four centuries after his death. Abandoned and long forgotten, they would return in our modern age to inspire the world’s most prestigious amateur sporting event. This program combines lavish reconstructions of the ancient Greek Games with dramatic highlights from the modern Games to reveal the extraordinary contrasts and unexpected connections between the greatest sporting events of their age.