Every two years, athletes from around the world gather to compete at the Olympic Games. And every two years, stories emerge that capture the world's attention, from the tragic to the triumphant.
As the Summer Olympics begin in Paris on Friday, key storylines are already emerging.
There is Simone Biles’s long-awaited return to Olympic gymnastics three years after pulling out of the Tokyo Games. There is the question of how the wars in Ukraine and Gaza might disrupt the façade of international unity. There is even concern about the pollution of the River Seine, which may be too full of sewage to provide a safe venue for long-distance swimming events, although the mayor of Paris recently took a dip to prove it was safe.
Whatever the Grand Narrative of 2024, it is likely to get a documentary treatment at some point in the future. The human drama of the Olympics, from the athletes who take part in them to the controversies that sometimes overshadow the competition, has long been fodder for nonfiction filmmakers. since at least 1912.
To help you prepare for the games, The Times TV team has compiled a list of Olympic-themed documentaries available to stream, including moving accounts of human triumph and infuriating tales of systemic corruption, plus cautionary tales about nationalist myth-making.
