I like to go all-in on a topic. If I am watching the Olympics or preparing to watch The Olympics, I prefer total immersion. There are quite a few hours between a Gold Zone morning and Primetime in Paris that could be filled with watching Olympics documentaries, you know? The Olympics documentaries listed here either center on or address women’s sports — admittedly, there’s a lot of gymnastics in here. I’d hoped for more soccer coverage… but it turns out that soccer/football documentaries are far more preoccupied with the World Cup. But let’s see what we’ve got.
30 for 30: Dream On (2022)
My favorite documentary on this list, a three-part installment of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series follows the women’s basketball team who crushed at the 1996 Olympics — a squad assembled as a “test run” for the idea of starting the WNBA. Prior to the Olympics, this very underpaid and often exhausted group went on a barnstormer tour, competing in 52 games against college teams in the States and national teams around the world to build momentum. Over 500 hours of footage shot at the time and previously unreleased is presented along with interviews from the greats spotlit in the series. You hear from Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes, plus reflections from Jennifer Azzi, a lesbian forced into the closet to keep her career.
Where to Watch: Hulu, ESPN+, Disney+
16 Days of Glory (1985)
Over the past 110 years, forty official documentaries of both the Summer and Winter games have been produced, each with its own specific approach from a wide range of filmmakers, starting with Stockholm’s 1912 games. They are long, these movies, although shorter versions of each exist, and they are glorious. Restored in brilliant color for the Criterion Collection, this particular 4+ hour film follows the games chronologically while highlighting specific competitor stories in each sport, including Mary Lou Retton; and marathon runners Julie Brown, Joan Benoit, Ingrid Kristiansen, and Grete Waitz.
Where to Watch: Criterion Collection, Max, YouTube
Over the Limit (2017)
There’s an exchange in this documentary about Margarita Mamun, an elite Russian rhythmic gymnast angling to become an Olympic champion, that gets quoted a lot:
Irina: “Why are you getting upset?”
Margarita: “Because I’m a human being.”
Irina: “Right now you aren’t a human being — you’re an athlete.”
Mamun is almost 20, meaning this will be her last opportunity to secure a medal for Russia. The “Black Swan of Olympics movies” asks “Is [her coach] Irina a merciless tyrant or the motivating guidance Margarita needs to fulfill her dreams?”
Where to Watch: Amazon, Google Play, YouTube
The Witches of the Orient (2021)
In the late 1950s, a textile workers’ women’s volleyball team became a phenomenal sports success story and the pride of Japan. The team rose to prominence with an unbelievable 258-game winning streak and eventually secured the gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The documentary reunites the team, now in their 70s, who once were given the racist moniker ‘Witches of the Orient’ because of their “seemingly supernatural powers on the courts,” to recall their days chasing perfection, stunning competitors, and taking home the top prize.
Where to Watch: Criterion Collection
Sprint: The World’s Fastest Humans (2024)
This six-part docuseries follows multiple runners on their journeys to the Olympics, including queer runner Sha’Carri Richardson. The second episode, QUEENS, focuses on Richardson’s long-standing rivalry with Jamaican runner Shericka Jackson as they both cope with a life in the national spotlight.
Where to Watch: Netflix
The Only (2022)
U.S Soccer Hall of Fame goalkeeper Brianna Scurry often “stood alone as the only Black starter and the only gay player on many of the fields she played on” — thus the title of this film, The Only. Heather writes that this documentary, which covers Scurry’s entire life, from her Olympic gold medal wins to the 2010 traumatic brain injury that derailed her career and almost took her life, “finally gives Briana Scurry the credit she’s due for pushing women’s sports to the next level around the world.” Her story is truly captivating and woefully undertold.
Where to Watch: Paramount+
Simone Biles: Rising (2024)
Shooting for this docuseries began in the lead-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where it ended up capturing an unexpected story — when Biles made the choice to prioritize her own mental health and physical well-being over her country’s rabid desire for her to compete in the Olympics.
Where to Watch: Netflix
The Price of Gold (2014)
Another ESPN 30 for 30 film, this one looks at one of my favorite topics — the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan saga, which began with the kneecapping of Olympic gold medal front-runner Nancy Kerrigan in Detroit and came to a head at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games. The story seemed truly just as wild at the time as it does now. Obviously I, Tonya is also a must-watch.
Where To Watch: ESPN+/Hulu/Disney+
At The Heart of Gold: Inside The USA Gymnastics Scandal (2019)
This is not a celebration of sport, it is an interrogation of it — which’s as much a part of the larger story as the glory. USA Gymnastics Team Doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of the women he’d been entrusted to care for was enabled and allowed to continue for years, with hundreds of gymnasts traumatized. Netflix’s Athlete A is another excellent look at this story.
Where to Watch: HBO, YouTube
The ’96 Effect (2021)
This three-part docuseries follows four incredible women’s sports teams who won gold medals a the Atlanta Olympics _ gymnastics, basketball, soccer, and softball — considered a watershed moment in the fight for gender equality in sport. Shot during the height of the pandemic, the series features interviews with 27 different athletes including Sue Bird, Amanda Borden, Brandi Chastain, Dominique Dawes, Billie Jean King, Lisa Leslie, Brianna Scurrey, A’ja Wilson and Sheryl Swoopes. Sisters of ’96, another 2021 Peacock documentary, focuses squarely on the women’s soccer team. (Both documentaries, however, have rightfully been noted for possessing “a breeziness that belies the seriousness of the impact had.”)
Where to Watch: Peacock
Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women’s Gymnastics (2020)
This PGA Award–winning, Emmy-nominated six-part documentary series takes a look at what it takes to become an Elite gymnast and how “athletes preserve their passion, confidence, and voice in a sport that pushes them beyond their limits.” Several episodes focus on specific elements, like vault and uneven bars, while other focus on topics like “finding their voice on the floor” and the culture of abuse in competitive gymnastics. Stars interviewed for the series include Nadia Comaneci, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Katelyn Ohashi, Jordyn Wieber, Dominique Moceanu and Olga Korbut.
Where to Watch: YouTube
The Weight of Gold (2020)
This HBO Sports Documentary explores the toll the Olympics takes on the mental health of its most celebrated athletes, who have been trained for one purpose, often one moment, to be celebrated in the media and then maligned or ignored, who have entire lives built around one specific pastime with little time for anything else. Amongst the athletes who share their struggles in this film are American hurdler and bobsledder Lolo Jones, skaters Gracie Golde and Sasha Cohen and skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender.
Where to Watch: HBO
Perfect (2016)
Filmmaker Jérémie Battaglia follows the Canadian synchronized swimming team as it trains for the Olympics. The production is surprisingly subdued and lacks those big, emotional moments we expect from Olympics documentaries, but synchro is such an under-covered sport that it’s a compelling watch nonetheless, especially what we learn about the judging process and the focus on swimmers’ bodies.
Where to Watch: Tubi
Touch the Wall
Swimming // 2014
Two athletes at very different parts of their career are driving towards swimming in the 2012 London Olympics — Missy Franklin, a kid everybody’s expecting a lot from and Kara Lynn Joyce, trying to rediscover what earned her two prior Olympic trips.
Where to Watch: Peacock
The Last Gold
Swimming // 2016
Shirlry Babashoff, Kim Peyton, Kill Sterkel and Wendy Boglioli won the American women’s only gold medal at the 1976 Olympics 4 x 100 meter relay. The Montreal Women’s Swim Team also only secured one gold medal in their thirteen events, despite a history of dominance in international meets. The reason? The East German Women’s Team had been taking steroids, enabling them to sweep the other 11 women’s swimming events. This little-told story is the subject of The Last Gold, a movie I cannot find anywhere on the internet which is making me upset.
Where to Watch: ????
Ready to Fly
Ski Jumping // 2012
Team USA skiing phenom Lindsey Van, the central figure in the narrative, fought along with her teammates to get the IOC to recognize women’s Olympic ski jumping as an Olympic sport, even as Van had won 13 national championships was setting records that beat men’s achievements. Facing odds such as the International Ski Federation claiming ski jumping was not ‘medically appropriate for ladies,’ they fought for the recognition they deserved.
Where to Watch: Tubi
Lane 0: The Lane of Dreams
Swimming // 2024
A group of talented swimmers with limited resources and unconventional training backgrounds, all from nations without Olympic swimming facilities, have the opportunity to spend a year of intense training at a top-notch facility with a legendary swim coach with their eye on qualification.
Where to Watch: Docubay
We Dare to Dream
Multiple Sports // 2023
The Refugee Team Program started at Rio 2016 to provide a way for elite athletes to be able to compete and not have their stateless status prevent them from Olympics glory. This documentary follows the stories of Refugee team members weightlifter Cyrille Tchachet II, runner Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, canoeist Saied Fazloula, and taekwondo star Kimia Alizadeh.
Where to Watch: Peacock
Once Upon a Comeback
Swimming // 2021
This film explores “the unyielding tenacity of Dara Torres,” a swimming sensation who, at the age of 41, returned to the Olympics to medal in her sport.
Where to Watch: YouTube
The Wall: Climb For Gold
Climbing // 2022
Four female climbers are aiming for the top, literally — jostling to compete in the first-ever Olympic qualifying competition, only to have that work put on hold with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Surf Nation
Surfing // 2024
In China’s southernmost province, athletes as young as nine are out there in the ocean, training to one day make it onto the Chinese National Surf Team.
Where to Watch: Doc World
Even more Olympics documentaries featuring women athletes to check out:
- Represent (2024) – Surfing
- Looking for Sunshine (2018) – Swiss skier and Olympic medalist Lara Gut-Behrami.
- Harley & Katya (2022) – Australian pair skaters Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor
- Head Above Water (2021) – Australian swimmers
- Ladies First (2017) – Indian archer Deepika Kumari
- Bad Sport: “Gold War” (2021) – Russian figure skating pairs’s judging scandal
- Lindsay Vonn: The Final Season (2019) – Team USA Skiier Lindsay Vonn
- The Golden Girl (2019) – Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan
- Carolina Marin: I Can Because I Think I Can (2020) – Badminton
Amazing list and highly relevant to my life!
Can also thoroughly recommend Brianna Scurry’s autobiography which goes into so much heartbreaking detail of everything that happened to her.
Brilliant list! As a heads up, there’s a typo in Margarita Mamun’s name – it’s Mamun, not Mamum.
I’d also flag that, while Defying Gravity is great in a bunch of ways, it also features an episode with a lot of uncritical focus on MyKayla Skinner, who has recently been in the press for criticising safesport and saying cruel things about the current US gold medal winning team. She also was pretty overtly racist towards Gabrielle Douglas in 2016 when Douglas made the team over her, which is glossed over in the documentary, and has done sponsorship work with conversion therapy camps. Not to say don’t promote the documentary – it’s brilliant bar Skinner – but just to say that for anyone watching, her story is omitting a lot of the bad stuff she did. Also she wasn’t the first athlete to go back to an Olympic team from NCAA – that was Mohini Bhardwaj, who is 1) brilliant and 2) the first Indian-American gymnast to medal at the Olympics!
Amazing list and highly relevant to my life!
Can also thoroughly recommend Brianna Scurry’s autobiography which goes into so much heartbreaking detail of everything that happened to her.