Olympics-based TV shows worth streaming on Netflix, Disney+ and more

Watch the stories behind your favourite sports (Picture: Disney+)

Is watching the Tokyo Olympic Games making you hungry for more sporting telly?

From spooky swimming thrillers to comedy capers on the tennis court, there’s plenty of sporty shows to be found on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

Or if you want learn about your favourite sporting stars, check out biopics The Gabby Douglas Story and Prefontaine.

Read on below for our full selection of TV champions.

Basketball

High Flying Bird (Netflix)

André Holland plays hot shot sports agent Ray Burke (Picture: Peter Andrews)

André Holland stars as sports agent Ray Burke in Steven Soderbergh’s dribble around the mazy world of basketball wheeler-dealers.

Shot entirely on iPhones, it’s a slam dunk for anyone interested in how big business is the major player in the quest for sporting glory, where moving merch and inspiring rap lyrics is the true stuff of hoop dreams.

Big Shot (Disney+)

John Stamos stars as a failed basketball coach taking on a high school girls’ team (Picture: Disney)

For a rather fluffier look at basketball, here’s John Stamos as a disgraced big-time coach who must restore his reputation by coaching a high-school girls’ team to glory. It’s soapy, sports fun.

Gymnastics

The Gabby Douglas Story (Amazon Prime)

Sydney Mikayla portrays Gabby Douglas, the first black gymnast to win the all-around gold at the Olympics (Picture: Sony)

From beam to vault to bars to floor, the Olympic gymnastics competition has provided its fair share of drama and controversy over the years.

This biopic follows the rise of Gabrielle Douglas, who became the first black American to become individual all-around champion at London 2012. The presence of Watchmen’s Regina King as Douglas’s mother adds a touch of class.

Tennis

The Prince Of Tennis (Netflix)

Li Na makes a cameo in this Chinese tennis adventure (Picture: Visual China Group via Getty Images)

Chinese tennis legend Li Na has a cameo in this perky Chinese take on a tennis sports drama that follows the rise of enigmatic young hopeful Lu Xia as he climbs the ranks, charms bashful love interest Qi Ying (mainly by scowling at her) and sees off his school’s comedy bad boys.

Tennis is a notoriously difficult sport to film convincingly – a problem this sidesteps by adding martial arts-style bangs and whistles to give it a bit of oomph. Based on the popular Japanese manga.

Badminton

Racket Boys (Netflix)

South Korean series Racket Boys follows the antics of young badminton hopefuls (Picture: Netflix)

Comedy meets shuttlecocks in this feather-light 2021 South Korean series that gives badminton, a sport that’s huge across Asia and sniggered at everywhere else, a rare shot at the spotlight.

While junior players sweat buckets on court, it’s the cash-strapped adults who try to fix matches and give their kids a leg up the ladder.

Athletics

Prefontaine (Amazon Prime rental)

Jared Leto stars at self-destructive runner Steve Preontaine (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)

If things had worked out to plan, Steve Prefontaine would have written his name in Olympic history but instead the US middle-distance runner is the great ‘Might-Have-Been’ of athletics history.

Jared Leto is perfectly cast in this speedily-paced 1997 biopic of the self-destructive Prefontaine. It’s a little-seen classic.

Swimming

Swimfan (Amazon Prime)

Jesse Bradford plays a swim star with a slightly creepy star (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)

Swimming meets stalking in this creepy thriller about an up-and-coming swim star (played by Jesse Bradford) who cuts such a dash in his Speedos he
can’t shift a very persistent girl from his slipstream.

It’s a cheesy guilty pleasure. Swimming pools are clearly dangerous places – the key murder in Spanish high-school drama Elite (Netflix) takes place poolside and the early episodes have lots of Speedo-based drama to boot.

Diving

Dive!! (Amazon Prime)

Given the high drama of the high board, it’s surprising there have been so few stories set in the diving world.

Until we get the inevitable Tom Daley biopic, you could try Dive!!, a cutesy animé tale of a young hopeful trying to save his school from closure by making the Olympic team.

And while on the subject of diving, can one of the many streaming services pick up Dive, 2010’s BBC2 two-parter starring Aisling Loftus and Jack O’Connell. It really should be available.

Sports Psychology

Inside The Heads of Champions (Arte.tv)

German pentathlete Marvin Dogue is one of many competitors who believe that success is all in the mind (far left) (Picture: Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

What makes the difference between standing at the top of the podium and just missing out on a medal?

No, it’s not training an extra 30 minutes, it’s all down to mental fortitude. This fascinating documentary looks at how neuroscience is increasingly coming into play in the race to come out on top.

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