For some of us, sports hold limited appeal until given the right context: a triumphant personal story, impossible odds, national pride, an intense rivalry. Then, suddenly, they have all the makings of a great drama.
With the absolute height of that drama—the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, a.k.a. Paris 2024—quickly approaching, it seems only fitting to look at some of the best Olympic movies ever to grace the silver screen. These are films that take the unimaginable—the height of human physical, psychological, and emotional endurance—and present them in all their nail-biting glory for all the world to see.
While the Olympic movies on this list impart their own profound, surprising, and even humorous versions of everything we love about the Games—the rivalry! the pride! patriotism! the pageantry!—they also offer a look at some of the darker issues that are equally compelling: the doping, the sex, the class struggles, and the crime. After all, one thing that art and sports have in common is their ability to hold all of these things at once.
Be forewarned: You won’t see Chariots of Fire on this list. Yes, it is an iconic film; yes, it took place at the last Paris Games 100 years ago; yes, it is the only Olympics movie to ever win best picture at the Oscars (in 1982). But you already knew all that, and can probably hum the soundtrack by heart. Instead, consider this the list of the best Olympic films you haven’t seen yet—or should definitely watch again and again.