The 11 Best Olympic Films of All-Time

There are very few events in human history as relentlessly documented and recorded as the Olympic Games. From 1912 onwards, the International Olympics Council produced over 40 documentaries chronicling the pinnacle of sports and athletics, as a way to document and preserve the highlights of the thousands of competitors who compete for the gold every year. While those often straightforward, paint-by-numbers documentaries largely fell out of fashion with the rise of television — and now, there are likely more people keeping up with the games via social media than there are consistent cable watchers tuning in — films made about the games from more independent sources remain key touchstone classics to this day.

It’s no surprise why the Olympics would draw filmmakers and documentarians. As the highest platform of athleticism on the planet, the games features human beings at their absolute peaks, and many of the participants are the types of physical specimens that make for arresting camera subjects. But more importantly, these athletes have a drive and competitive spirit that most human beings on the planet are incapable of ever reaching, and the high stakes that come from representing their country can be felt even through a TV screen. The average Olympic contender is the type of driven person that makes for compelling storytelling, for a main character worth cheering for. Not to mention there’s often a lot of cinematic spectacle just form the Opening and Closing ceremonies.

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So while there are plenty of great documentaries about the Olympics, there’s equally plenty of great narrative features about the Olympics. Some of them are straightforward based on a true story movies like George Clooney’s “The Boys in the Boat,” while others like Michael Ritchie’s exquisitely bitter “Downhill Racer” invent fictional competitors to follow. Whatever the case, the best Olympic movies strip away the glamor and the romance of the summer or winter games and allows the audience a chance to step into the shoes of the athletes themselves.

With the 2024 Olympic Games currently underway, IndieWire is taking a look at the best and most exhilarating movies ever made about the iconic event. This list includes both documentary films featuring footage from actual games as well as narrative features about real or imagined Olympic athletes. Read on for the 11 best Olympic movies of all time, listed in chronological order.

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