11 inspiring movies about the Olympics

The Olympics are coming to an end, and we suggest to get into the atmosphere a little more and watch a movie selection. For almost all athletes, the Olympic Games are the main competition in their career, and everyone dreams of a gold medal. Athletes are ready to throw everything to the victory podium – they put out 100%, perform, overcoming pain, and confidently go to the goal.

“Games”, Russia, 2024

Genre: drama series.

Director: Evgeny Stychkin.

Main actors: Grigory Vernik, Maria Karpova, Igor Kostolevsky, Yuri Stoyanov.

Age restrictions: 16+.

The 1980 Olympics in the USSR became truly legendary in the history of sports. The organization of the Games was very serious. The series shows the underside, the behind-the-scenes work on the Olympics. In the story Igor Zorin (played by Grigory Vernik) – the son of an influential official as punishment sent to work as a volunteer from the organizing committee of the Olympics. He will have to work under the guidance of a strict boss Irina Svetlova, who will not give the spoiled guy down. At the new place Igor, to his surprise and the surprise of others, begins to change. He gets acquainted with new people and sees with his own eyes the whole scale of preparations for the Olympics. Igor can not remain indifferent, he becomes a witness to both political intrigue and personal dramas.

“The Girl and the Sea”, USA, Hungary, Italy, UK, France, 2024.

Genre: drama.

Director: Joakim Rønning.

Main actors: Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Stephen Graham.

Age limit: 16+.

The movie tells about the life of the famous swimmer and Olympic champion Gertrude Ederle. She was called the Queen of the Waves for her endurance, fearlessness and strength. Gertrude was the first woman to swim across the English Channel. However, on the way to success, Gertrude had to overcome difficulties. In her youth, she faced the fact that the Athletes’ Union refused to recognize women’s swimming as a sport. Girls fought for a long time to get the opportunity to participate in professional championships and competitions. In addition, female athletes were forced to swim in stockings that covered their legs! Thanks to activists, women were finally able to swim unencumbered, but had to wrap themselves in a towel or robe in little more than a second when leaving the pool.

Gertrude set her first record at the age of 12! In total, she holds about 30 world records. To take part in the Olympics in Paris, the swimmer had to play for the U.S. team, all because of bureaucratic delays. But this did not prevent the athlete from setting a world record and winning one gold medal and two bronze medals.

Ederle planned to swim across the English Channel in a pair with another athlete – Helen Wainwright. But the latter dropped out of the race just before the swim. It was an old injury. Gertrude prepared under the guidance of coach Jacob Wolf, who did not believe in success at all. He himself unsuccessfully tried to swim across the English Channel 22 times and was sure that the woman certainly can not cope. At one point he, as Gertrude later wrote in her autobiography, deliberately began to interfere with her. Seeing that the swimmer confidently going to the goal, he interrupted training for any reason. Then Ederle refused to mentor Wolf. August 6, 19-year-old Gertrude swam across the English Channel in 1926. 56 kilometers she covered in 14 hours and 31 minutes!

“Miracle”, Canada, USA, 2004.

Genre: drama.

Director: Gavin O’Connor.

Main actors: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich.

Age limit: 12+.

The plot of the movie is the real story of the American hockey team’s performance at the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid. Herb Brooks, a famous coach, was appointed head coach of the US national hockey team six months before the games. He had a difficult and almost impossible task to prepare the players so that they could beat the invincible “Red Machine” – the USSR national team. And Brooks did an amazing thing, he recruited players from student teams – young guys who were striving to win, not for money and fame, like some star players.

“Swimmers”, UK, USA, 2022.

Genre: biographical drama.

Director: Sally El Hosseini.

Main actors: Matthias Schweighöfer, Ali Suliman, James Floyd.

Age limit: 16+.

Sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini have dreamed of becoming famous swimmers since childhood, and each of them dreamed of the Olympics. In their homeland, Syria, the girls showed excellent results, and everything was going to come true. But the civil war ruined everything. As a result of bombings, their parents’ home was destroyed, and Yusra and Sara decided to flee the country.

On a dinghy together with other refugees the girls sailed on the Aegean Sea, initially they planned to reach the coast of Greece, and then leave for Germany. However, during the journey, the boat broke down and most of the passengers could not swim. Yusra, Sara and two others jumped into the water and dragged and pushed the boat for three hours.

It was only through their courage and dedication that the refugees were able to reach dry land and survive. In Germany, the girls continued training, Yusra even made it to the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 as part of the refugee team.

“Eddie the Eagle”, UK, Germany, USA, 2015

Genre: biographical drama, comedy.

Director: Dexter Fletcher.

Main actors: Theron Edgerton, Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken.

Age limit: 18+.

Eddie Edwards hasn’t been afraid to take risks since he was a kid. His parents were tired of taking the obnoxious boy to doctors – practicing jumping heights, he constantly broke his arms and legs. Once Eddie hurt his knee and suffered from a limp for three years. Only confidently on his feet, he began to master skiing. The 13-year-old boy had the idea of becoming an Olympic champion.

Learning that Great Britain has never participated in ski jumping competitions, Eddie decides to correct the misunderstanding. He goes to a training base in Germany. However, the young man did not have money for equipment. At the same time Eddie was famous for his sociability and hospitality, so he quickly found friends among skiers. They shared their equipment with him! With barely enough money for food and lodging, Eddie worked as a laborer, cleaner, and courier. One day the guy broke his jaw and, saving money, did not go to the doctor. Just tied the injured area with a scarf and continued to storm the 70-meter springboard.

Soon the fearless and desperate guy became the talk of the sports world. He had his own army of fans. In 1988, Eddie was taken into the British team, and he got the opportunity to represent the country at the Olympics in Calgary, Canada. At the airport, Eddie was greeted with a poster “Welcome to Calgary, Eddie the Eagle!”. That’s how the skier got his nickname.

“Unbroken”, USA, Japan, 2014

Genre: biographical drama.

Director: Angelina Jolie.

Main actors: Jack O’Connell, Donal Gleason, Miyavi.

Age limit: 18+.

American runner Louis Zamperini, nicknamed the Torrent Tornado, competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics at the age of 19. He didn’t win, but planned to take revenge at the next Olympics. But World War II broke out, and Louis was drafted to the front in the U.S. Army Air Force. In 1943, Zamperini’s plane crashed, Louis and two of his friends were captured by the Japanese. There Louis had to live in inhumane conditions for almost two years. However, all these years the athlete did not lose the will to live and fortitude.

“No Limit”, USA, 1998

Genre: biographical drama.

Director: Robert Towne.

Main actors: Billy Crudup, Donald Sutherland, Monica Potter.

Age limit: 12+.

Runner Steve Prefontaine’s popularity could rival that of rock stars. He was adored by the public, had a large fan club and fans wore T-shirts with his image on them. Steve was rightly considered an icon of track and field in the United States, because he introduced the fashion for running. Prefontaine was characterized by an aggressive running style, boiling up in seconds if he lost, and roaring with joy after victories. Steve set the 5000m record at the 1972 Munich Olympics. In total, the famed track and field athlete holds seven records. They could have been more, but in 1975, three years after the Olympics, with 24-year-old Steve had a tragedy.

“Upward Movement,” Russia, 2017.

Genre: drama.

Director: Anton Megerdichev.

Main actors: Vladimir Mashkov, Andrey Smolyakov, Ivan Kolesnikov.

Age restrictions: 6+.

A sports drama about the victory of our basketball team in the final match against the Americans at the Munich Olympics in 1972, which became one of the highest-grossing films. It was based on the autobiography of the same name of the famous Soviet basketball player Sergey Belov. To reliably show the game, the operator and director for six months filmed basketball matches. All the actors playing the roles of our basketball players, about a year of training and studying the technique of the game.

It’s funny, but in the role of rival Americans starred professional players: for example, Alexander Dedushkin, Fyodor Markin, Alexei Murychev. Also interesting is the fact that the tallest actor was Vladimir Mashkov, who played head coach Vladimir Garanzhin. Under his 190-centimeter height “adjusted” other actors, they had to wear shoes on a platform.

“Champions”, Russia, 2014

Genre: drama.

Director: Alexei Vakulov, Artem Aksenenko, Dmitry Dyuzhev.

Main actors: Mark Bogatyrev, Taisiya Vilkova, Konstantin Kryukov, Tatiana Arntgolts.

Age restrictions: 6+.

The movie contains five novellas, each of which tells the story of the success of famous Russian athletes and Olympic champions. These are biathlete Nikolai Kruglov Jr. (played by Mark Bogatyrev), a participant in two Olympics and silver medalist at the 2006 Games, figure skaters Elena Berezhnaya (Tatiana Arntgolts) and Anton Sikharulidze (Konstantin Kryukov) – in 1998 the pair won silver medals at the Nagano Olympics, and in 2002 they became Olympic champions in Salt Lake City. As well as snowboarder Ekaterina Ilyukhina (Taisiya Vilkova) – 2010 Olympic silver medalist in parallel giant slalom, ice hockey player Ilya Kovalchuk (Alexei Chadov) – Olympic champion at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze medalist at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, and 2006 Turin Olympic champion speed skater Svetlana Zhurova (Svetlana Khodchenkova).

“Champions: Faster. Higher. Stronger”, Russia, 2016

Genre: drama.

Director: Artem Aksyonenko

Main actors: Sergey Bondarchuk, Evgeny Pronin, Kristina Asmus, Egor Koreshkov.

Age Restrictions: 6+.

There are three stories in the continuation of the sports movie. One of them tells about the wrestler Alexander Karelin (played by Sergei Bondarchuk), the second about the gymnast Svetlana Khorkina (Kristina Asmus) and the third about the swimmer Alexander Popov (Evgeny Pronin). How and at what cost they managed to win gold medals at the main competition in the life of every athlete – the Olympics?

“From the bottom of the peak”, Russia, 2017

Genre: biographical drama.

Director: Yana Polyarush, Tamara Tsotsoria, Konstantin Kutuev.

Main actors: Pavel Shevando, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Ksenia Kuznetsova, Sergey Nikonenko.

Age restrictions: 12+.

The prototype of the main character is Alexei Moshkin, a two-time Paralympic skiing champion in 1994 and 1998. At the age of 12, young Alexei suffered a tragedy on a ski resort cable car, as a result of which he lost both his legs. Some four months later the boy stood on prosthetics, after a couple of months he started to run on roller skates, then mastered the bicycle. And a year later Alexey was already skiing again! Both parents and coaches were surprised by his persistence and aspiration. At the age of 20 he represented our team at the Winter Paralympic Games. And he won them.