STRoNG (2023)
A Quick Movie Review

It's always good to be acknowledge that athletes in the public eye, even elite Olympic-caliber athletes, are people, too. And that means that, like most people, they can suffer from low points of confidence or depression.

And that's the "we're not superheroes" lesson in Strong (stylized as STRoNG), released last week on Amazon Prime and timed with World Mental Health Day.

Focused on five Team France athletes - Jérémy Florès (surfing), Camille Lacourt (swimming), Perrine Laffont (freestyle skiing), Valentin Porte (team handball, and of the above 'superheroes' quote), and Ysaora Thibus (fencing) - who, despite tvaried sports and experiences of success, have a commonality of periods of crushing depression. They are, they communally acknowledge and parroting the film's subtitle,, 'as strong as are fragile'.

All five are Olympians, with Laffont and Porte having won gold (Tibus has a Tokyo 2020 team silver). All are candid, commenting to different degrees on their experiences with depression. Whether triggered from unexpected sporting losses (Lacourt) or a struggle to adapt to sudden fame (Laffont), each athlete's performance and outlook has been directly impacted by the struggle to maintain a strong mental health.

Strong's three chapters of "Birth", "Falling", and "Rebirth" offer a common look at each's general rapid rise in prominence, followed by respective challenges to their psyche, and their recoveries that broadly relied upon talking through their struggles and changes in perspective.

While Strong is a refreshingly honest look at top-level Olympians' struggles with mental health - and one in which the five Frenchmen and women serve as representatives of athletes everywhere - I did find the 80 minute run time stretched too thin across five stories to adequately identify steps to recovery.

But that's perhaps nitpicking. In addition to a look at personal struggles, Strong is also worth getting a peek at a selection of athletes not frequently on the radar States-side, particularly team handball and fencing - two sports with considerably higher profile in France than here. That we get to see Porte and Thibus presented with as much depth of success (and despair) as the others serves to remind us of a wider sports world out there, and one that shares within it a commonality of potential mental challenges.

Beckham (2023)
A Quick TV Review

No, soccer superstar David Beckham is not an Olympian. But he maybe almost was, and definitely was a visible presence for London 2012. So, there certainly exists an Olympic-related connection to inspire watching with interest the new Netflix documentary, Beckham​.

Unfortunately, Beckham doesn't address Beckham's Olympic ambitions - at all. On the other hand, though, the four-part series is still an enjoyable watch that covers all his other pertinent career highs and lows.

From his start as a Manchester United fan as a child to his joining and coming of age with the club...to his well-publicized relationship with Spice Girl Victoria 'Posh' Adams...to moves to subsequent clubs Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan, and Paris St. Germain...Beckham presents the Beckhams' own perspectives on all the key events.

There's an earnestness to Beckham's love for his childhood club and for the sport. Viewers who might be prejudiced against him due to his achingly distracting global popularity might find a surprisingly relatable and engaging Beckham here. Also shining through is a sincerity in the Beckhams' relationship, allaying any naysaying skepticism there, too.

So...what of Beckham's Olympic links? The former Team England captain and multiple club champion had been keen to play for Team Great Britain at those home Games in 2012, but was famously passed over. Yet his Olympic legacy lives in his prior bid participation and a memorable torch appearance at the Opening Ceremony. Perhaps these mentions ended on the cutting room floor*. Too bad. Regardless, Beckham provides both a quality retrospective on Beckham the star player and empathetic conversations with Beckham the man.

​*p.s. Atlanta 1996 medalist and former club teammate Ronaldo makes interview appearances, though!

Untitled: The Noah Lyles Project (2023)
A Quick TV Review

"Noah Lyles runs from his soul. That's who Noah Lyles is." So says the track sprint star's sports therapist Diana McNab. And it's how Untitled: The Noah Lyles Project begins, setting the stage for a documentary aiming to speak on what powers Lyles from within.

Although Untitled was released this summer on streaming service Peacock ahead of the World Athletics Championships, and despite me being a track & field fan, I had been hesitant to start watching. I had been watchful that Lyles might have a record-breaking season, and I was curious that this was released ahead of season's end...with an unknown climax. It certainly felt during Part 1 that marketing strategy was hinging on that potential record being a key element of the show's conclusion.

Of course, "that potential record" is track legend Usain Bolt's 200-meter world record of 19.19 seconds from 2009, a mark that Lyles has publicly manifested as a goal. In fact, it's the goal...as in the eponymous 'Noah Lyles Project'. And, rather than Noah's 'soul', it's what Untitled is really about as it covers the handful of races ahead of the U.S. Championships and then the worlds.

Untitled doesn't really give a track fan any particularly new insight into who Lyles is. We've seen him as showman, we've heard of his childhood asthma and ailments, his mental health heading into Tokyo 2020, and his interest in driving attention to the sport through somewhat calculated and choreographed new means.

Perhaps the only real revelation is a brief introduction of his team, including McNab and his coach, trainer, chiropractor, agent, and family that serves as a reminder of the village it takes to create an elite athlete today. Lyles sure is engaging, though, and good on camera. Which makes Untitled an easy watch for casual fans...surely a key market as Peacock and NBC drum up viewing interest for Paris 2024.

As we knew before Part II's debut in September, Lyle doesn't get that world record by season's end. But Untitled's arc is certainly saved with Lyles' 100-meter and 200-meter double gold performance at the worlds in Budapest. And, in the process, Lyles doubles down on his personable persona and momentum.

And, in his own words, it "sets up for a sequel". The record chase continues, and Paris 2024 beckons.

Big George Foreman (2023)
A Quick Film Review

There is a lot to enjoy about George Foreman - Olympic gold medalist boxer, heavyweight champion (twice!), his rise from a disadvantaged childhood, personable purveyor of healthy-cooking grills - so it's not a surprise that fitting all that depth into two hours or so would be a tall order.

Unfortunately, bio-pic Big George Foreman (subtitled with the mouthful, The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World) doesn't deliver much punch as it presents an overview of his remarkable career.

Sure, it's all there, from his underprivileged upbringing and struggle to fit in, to his turn to Job Corps for direction and finding boxing as a way to a straight life, through his up and down career, and his turn as a preacher, and back in the ring again (and again) while juggling entrepreneurship.

Iconic moments along the way, though, just aren't delivered with the drama of the actual moments. His surprise Mexico City 1968 championship at just 19-years-old over the more highly regarded Jonas Čepulis, not to mention the road in the ring to the Games, is only given a few minutes.

Two other signature ring moments - the 'Sunshine Showdown' in Kingston, Jamaica against Joe Frazier that brought Foreman his first professional heavyweight title and the 'Rumble in the Jungle' in Kinshasa, Zaire against Muhammad Ali in which he would lose that crown - may get slightly more screen time, but not any more heft suitable for their momentous occasions.

Big George Foreman's breeziness settles down best when Foreman, faced with mounting financial trouble, returns to the ring after . Showcasing the remarkable, or, um, miraculous, fight to not only get back into shape after ten years of retirement but find success in the ring again is the emotional tug of the film, and the payoff for the first hour and a half.

It's a shame the bulk of Big George Foreman doesn't present the same engagement in its earlier stages. Perhaps that's emblematic, though, of Foreman himself - a champion who maybe didn't find his own heart in the ring until later in his boxing career. His journey really is a compelling story...I just wish Big George Foreman  delivered that more.

Harley & Katya (2022)
A Quick Film Review

Those with just a passing interest in figure skating may only know of Team Australia's pair skaters Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya and Harley Windsor from their surprise win at the World Junior Championships in 2017.

But serious figure skating followers know more...that mental and physical challenges pushed the pair to a breakup, and, ultimately likely, to Alexandrovskaya's suicide just three years later.

A fittingly poignant documentary from 2022, Harley & Katya, just released in the United States on Netflix, takes a look at the once-promising skating partnership and its maybe not-so abrupt end.

Behind the headline elite skaters dominating global podiums are legions of would-be pairs skaters toiling to make connections with the 'right' partner. That search often crosses borders, with nationality switches to accommodate those matches and competitive opportunities. In that respect, Alexandriovskaya's and Windsor's start together was not so uncommon.

Though they did come from starkly different backgrounds - Alexandrovskaya from Moscow and Windsor from small-town Penrith, Australia. When Windsor's coaches needed a new partner for him, they looked back home to Russia. And a new pairs team was born.

​The match wasn't without difficulty - Alexandrovskaya struggled with the language barrier, and, at only 16-years-old and four years younger than Windsor, with adjusting to a different new life away from home. Those struggles would persist despite increasing success on the ice. The two won that 2017 junior title, and then Pyeongchang 2018 qualification - culminating in an 18th place finish at those Winter Olympics. As the media pounced on the novelty of Windsor's Aboriginal heritage during those Games, Alexandrovskaya's Russian-ness, and continued language barrier, made her a public afterthought.

But bigger problems lay hidden. Or not so hidden - hints at over-drinking by Alexandrovskaya, still just a teenager, are admitted by what was her support system in retrospect. Friction with coaching and finding herself losing support, she and Windsor move to Moscow to train, where a devastating diagnosis is delivered. Struck with epilepsy made more sensitive by alcoholism, Alexandrovskaya's career is suddenly over in 2020, and at just age 20. And in July, in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic that further shut down her world, Alexandrovskaya jumped from a sixth-story window to her death.

Harley & Katya treads respectfully around the mass impulse to find 'blame'. Everyone featured acknowledges the tragedy both of a teenager finding herself lost and alone suddenly without purpose, and of a system that wasn't sophisticated enough to offer support for young, emotionally vulnerable athletes. Had Alexandrovskaya received more support, who knows where the promising potential from 2017 would have taken the pair. For his part, Windsor remains competitive, recently announced as representing South Korea with Choe Hye-Jin.

The highlight moment of Harley & Katya? Witnessing the pair's final performance at 2019's Skate America in Las Vegas...mournful in its knowing presentation. It's a shame we aren't able to know more of Alexandrovskaya, her thoughts and her ambitions. But Harley & Katya serves as a well-done reminder of the all-too-often unseen struggles of athletes on the cusp of stardom.

We need to remember.