The Real Olympics: A History of the Ancient and Modern Olympic Games

PBS

The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece were held every four years and without interruption for nearly twelve centuries. The Games were almost 800 years old when Jesus Christ was born, and continued for four centuries after his death. Abandoned and long forgotten, they would return in our modern age to inspire the world’s most prestigious amateur sporting event. This program combines lavish reconstructions of the ancient Greek Games with dramatic highlights from the modern Games to reveal the extraordinary contrasts and unexpected connections between the greatest sporting events of their age. Distributed by PBS Distribution. (110 minutes)

Your Exercise Routine: Bent-Over Row

The Wellness Network

Learn how to perform a bent-over row to strengthen your back muscles.

Daily Exercise for Parkinson's Patients

Nevco Educational Video Inc

This instructor-led physical fitness video offers a daily regimen of strengthening, range-of-motion, balance, and breathing exercises for people with Parkinson's disease. Gentle seated calisthenics and stretches include neck rotations and head sweeps, shoulder rolls, trunk stretches, rowing and swimming motions, arm and wrist circles, finger stretches, marching, hip rotations, hamstring stretches, ankle flexes and rotations, and lower back stretches. Gentle seated Thera-Band muscle-toning exercises include shoulder blade pinches, shoulder joint flexes, triceps curls, rowing motions, marching, thigh flexes, and ankle flexes. And gentle standing exercises include sit-to-stands, hip extensions, rear-kicks, squats, and calf stretches. The program ends with deep breathing. (48 minutes)

Lifelong Physical Activity

ClickView Pty Limited

The benefits of regular physical activity from a young age are highlighted in this energetic and informative program. Viewers will hear from Australian Olympic rower Kim Crow and other athletes as they discuss the physical, mental, and social results of fitness and exercise. The positive and negative aspects of group and solo activities are explored, including barriers to participation and how any individual, regardless of background, can incorporate physical activity into his or her busy lifestyle. Various forms of athletics are addressed, specifically ones that can be undertaken at any age, such as golf, rowing, swimming, and orienteering (a sport involving navigation skills as well as physical exertion). Viewable/printable educational materials are available online. (16 minutes)

Briana Scurry: Interview (7/2/14)

NewsHour Productions

Briana Scurry, former goalkeeper for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, discusses her experience with a career-ending concussion and her efforts to raise awareness of the concussions.

Olympia: The Origins of the Game

France Television Distribution

Passing through the underground arcades leading to the stadium of Olympia is like entering another era where strides, music and crowd encouragement resonate! Developed around an ancient site of worship, the sanctuary of Olympia beamed throughout the ancient world for its religious prestige and its famous competitions. 180 years of archaeological dig have allowed us to know the place better and to propose graphic reconstructions of its dedicated spaces for deities and sports. This documentary takes viewers to a visual and audible discovery of this fascinating site that vibrated every four years during the famous Olympic Games. By mixing archeology, reenactment scenes, CGI of ancient monuments and very high speed images, let’s go attend the games!

Mo Farah - Race Of His Life

BBC Worldwide Learning

With unprecedented access to double Olympic and five-time world champion Mo Farah, this one-off documentary charts the athlete’s brutal training schedule and goes behind the scenes of family life in the build-up to his title defense at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Produced over a year, the film shows Mo as never before, from his rigorous training camps in Africa and the USA to how he balances his work and family life. This candid documentary highlights the personal and professional events that have shaped him into the man he is today. Contributions from Usain Bolt, Lord Coe and Haile Gebrselassie tell what it takes to reach the heights Farah has, why he became a national treasure, and the sacrifices it takes to succeed at elite levels.

Michael Phelps' Secret Catch

Inside Science

In swimming, does the deep catch or sculling technique propel swimmers faster?

Brazil: Showtime!

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The World Cup and the Olympic Games are the ultimate double-header for sports fans, but many Brazilians are conflicted as they prepare to host the greatest shows on earth, back-to-back. Public money is funneled to stage the events while cost of living skyrockets, hospitals and schools crumble, and transport systems falter in gridlock. (27 minutes)

Ruins of Olympia, Greece

Global Screen GmbH

The site of Olympia, in a valley in the Peloponnesus, has been inhabited since prehistoric times. In the 10th century B.C., Olympia became a center for the worship of Zeus. The Altis—the sanctuary to the gods—has one of the highest concentrations of masterpieces from the ancient Greek world. In addition to temples, there are the remains of all the sports structures erected for the Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia every four years beginning in 776 B.C.

First Olympian (Ancient Rome: The Rise And Fall Of An Empire)

BBC Worldwide Learning

In the city of Taranto, Southern Italy, lie the remains of the only athlete to survive from antiquity, the skeleton of an ancient Greek champion from 500BC. Recreating that athlete and the fabulous world of the Ancient Olympics using computer graphics, dramatic reconstruction, and forensic science, this film features boxing matches, chariot races, and spectacular action to show how the athlete could have battled for glory 2,500 years ago. Modern athletes experiment with replicas of ancient equipment to discover that the original Greek events were much tougher than those of today. Discover just how good an ancient Greek champion really was.

The Olympic Games

Balanga

The Olympic Games were held every four years in Olympia. They were Pan-Hellenic—open to all Greeks—and the events provided the opportunity to win Olympic titles (a wreath of wild laurel) and immense prestige. After the Roman conquest, the Games are opened to foreigners and enjoy huge success. But in the 4th century, Archbishop Ambrose of Milan considers them to be pagan and has them banned. For more than 1,300 years, the Games vanish from History, and Olympia gradually falls into oblivion. Everything suddenly changes when the ruins of Olympia are rediscovered. Major digs on the ancient sporting site begin in 1875 and once again put the Olympic Games in the world’s spotlight. The first modern version of the Olympic Games is held in Athens in 1896 and is a triumph. The Olympic Games take on new life and henceforth allow the participation of all people, irrespective of their sex or race. Today, the Olympic Games are the most-watched sporting event in the world.

Prelinger Archives: Magic in the Air (1955)

Prelinger Archives

This Prelinger Archives film illustrates the basic principles of what was, in 1955, state-of-the-art television technology. Visiting a TV studio as it prepares for a live broadcast, the film shows how television equipment works--including going inside a bulky camera and examining its contents, then following the broadcast "signal" with the help of classic voltage-like animation to a TV antenna and into the home of a happy viewer. How electrons are used to scan and reproduce a picture is explained quite effectively, if not in complete scientific detail then at least to the satisfaction of the average high-school physics student. The evolution of TV technology is paralleled with that of the American car. Jam Handy Organization, for the General Motors Corporation, Department of Public Relations. (8 minutes)

The Weight of Gold

HBO

From HBO Sports comes a poignant, much-needed documentary look at the widespread mental health issues among Olympic athletes, exposing the lack of resources in place to help them sustain life beyond their sports. Directed and executive produced by filmmaker Brett Rapkin – and narrated by the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps – The Weight of Gold features profound interviews with top Olympic athletes who open up about the crippling depression rampant among competitors – particularly after the Games are over. The Olympians, including Phelps, who speaks extensively about his personal battles with mental health, explain how debilitating the extreme pressures of competition, feelings of inadequacy, and financial burdens can be – and ultimately mourn the tragic fate that these circumstances have brought to peers who have taken their own lives. A timely and honest reflection on mental health in athletics, The Weight of Gold brings to light the life-threatening struggles of Olympic athletes, giving this often overlooked crisis the attention it deserves.

Connect the World: Katie Taylor - Undisputed

CNN

Becky Anderson meets female boxer Katie Taylor and discovers a woman beloved by her local community, who’s overcome prejudice and tradition in pursuit of her boxing dreams.

The Skating Champion

Cinetic Rights Management LLC.

In a conversation with research psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, three-time Olympic skater Brian Boitano explores the processes of his brain as he addresses the endurance, stamina, and discipline required to stay at the top of his game and overcome injury.

On China: Sport

CNN

Over 3,500 young athletes from around the world have gathered in Nanjing for the Youth Olympic Games. With Beijing 2008 in the rearview mirror, and China's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics on the not-too-distant horizon, CNN takes the show on the road for an in-depth look at the power of sport in China. From the next generation of young emerging athletes and sports-stars-to-be, to how sport is shaping China's role on the global stage, Kristie Lu Stout and her panel of experts take you inside what it means to be an athlete in today's China.

1936-1939: A Newsreel History of the Third Reich—Volume 2

MVD Entertainment Group

Beginning in 1936, this volume concentrates on the events that occurred up to 1939 as Germany prepared for the Second World War.