Simone Biles Rising (2024)
A Quick TV Review

"I never thought I'd be competing again after Tokyo." So says Simone Biles, four-time Olympic gold medalist from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and the subject of Netflix's Simone Biles Rising documentary series released just ahead of Paris 2024.

But, as Rising shows, arguably the greatest gymnast ever and once (still?) most-dominant athlete in any sport, she is back.

No, we obviously don't see Biles achieve absolute redemption with the public and perhaps herself through another multi-gold medal performance at Paris 2024. That is perhaps to come over the next two weeks.

Instead, Rising's first two episodes focus on Biles' travails at the Tokyo Games, with the dreaded 'twisties' very publicly limiting her competition, and on her earlier post-Rio 2016 depression and  reconciliation with past abuse...through to her comeback to compete on Team USA's squad for Paris.

Biles is consistently front-and-center in Rising - speaking sincerely and without much reservation on facing her "demons" from Tokyo's drama, coming to terms with the self-described "trauma response" to both a tumultuous pre-Tokyo period and the Covid-19-impacted atmosphere that disrupted what competition and support systems at global events has looked like. Her comfort today in front of the camera is impressive. And maybe enough so that we should recognize a re-centered Biles is not just back, but better.

Rising nicely makes a point to position Biles' original rising (!) prominence in light of an era in which Black women were making more of an impact on the sport, and in which pushback was growing against damaging training methods and expectations that had been accepted as needed for success. Both are needed reminders of the context through which Biles and her challenges have been seen.

Episode Two in particular also shines a nice inside light on her personal life - including her husband Jonathan, her (grand)parents, her sister Adria - which shapes the humanity and personalization of Biles, away from the historically accepted one-dimensional presentation of elite female gymnasts.

And along the way Olympics fans are treated to glimpses of other gymnastics stars: Olympians Svetlana Boginskaya, Betty Okino, Aly Raisman, Dominique Dawes and Paris 2024 alternate Joscelyn Roberson all sharing commentary and perspective on Biles' impact, dominance, and experience.

It's not quite a cliff-hanger where Rising leaves us after the first two episodes; we all know Biles does make Team USA in dominant fashion. We'll find out probable subsequent episode storylines together as Paris 2024 unfolds, as Rising sets us up nicely to cheer for the G.O.A.T.

Federer: Twelve Final Days (2024)
A Quick Film Review

I'm not 100% convinced that Federer: Twelve Final Days, recently released on streaming service Amazon Prime, was "originally a home video never intended for public viewing". Okay, parts...but with high production value and many direct interview commentaries, Federer sure does feel polished and intentional.

We don't learn anything particularly new in Federer​ - perhaps the greatest tennis player ever comes to term at age 41 with his now-chronic knee problems and announces his retirement in September 2022. The tennis Hall of Famer and ardent Olympian then has less than two week before a final match alongside longtime friend and rival Rafael Nadal.

And, while the documentary is billed as the tennis legend's 'twelve final days' of his career, it really boils down to his final match - that well-documented Laver Cup in London.

I hope all that's not overly critical, because Federer​ really offers a poignant, personal, and cinematic closure to Federer's on-court reign. I choked up during the Laver Cup portion! Plus for me, it's a nice bookend to tennis writer Christopher Clarey's brilliant The Master, a 2021 treatise on Federer's career that I only finally read earlier this year.

In addition to revisiting that overall emotion of the Laver Cup, nice, generous moments fitting of his image include Federer giving deference to tennis hero Bjorn Borg, Federer's kind, rational perspective on Novak Djokovic's intrusion into the Federer - Nadal narrative ("I look past the media and see the man that he is"), and Nadal's own acknowledgement on "the most important player in my tennis career".

​Federer's release was timed fittingly just ahead of this year's Wimbledon, the tournament Federer won eight times and the one with which he was most identified. It's a welcome revisit to one of tennis' all-time greats.

SPRINT (2024)
A Quick TV Review

Well, here's a 'quick review'...I loved SPRINT, Netflix's latest sports-focused documentary series premiering this week.

As an ardent track & field fan and an Olympic sports athlete fan, what's not to love. Track gets the Netflix sports series treatment, and right on schedule with the Paris 2024 Summer Games approaching in a few weeks.

Sure, passionate track aficionados may quibble that there isn't anything particularly new presented in SPRINT...similar to fans' concerns about Netflix's Break Point on tennis. But what we do get is Netflix's good-looking production and some behind-the-scenes access to personalities and process.

Across six episodes, SPRINT (subtitled "The World's Fastest Humans") focuses on Team USA sprint stars Noah Lyles and Sha'Carri Richardson as they target success at the 2023 Word Athletics Championships in Budapest, with Gabby Thomas, Great Britain's Zharnel Hughes, Italian Marcell Jacobs, and Jamaicans Shericka Jackson, Elaine Tompson-Herah, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce getting star turns as well.

Along the way, track legends Michael Johnson, Allyson Felix, Usain Bolt, and Ato Boldon are used liberally for expert commentary, while the long list of fellow current stars making appearances includes Fred Kerley, Twanisha Terry, Paul Chelimo, Wayde van Niekirk, Ferdinand Omanyala, and Dina Asher-Smith. Triple Olympian Dennis Mitchell gets screen time as Richardson's current coach,  and we get rare States-side glimpses of Barcelona 1992 champion Linford Christie and the vaunted Jamaican coaches Paul and Stephen Francis.

Yes, we already know that Lyles and Richardson have outsized personalities. But even those of us who followed the road to the Budapest Worlds and know the results can appreciate seeing new insights and footage. Lyles' emotion on the Budapest podium, Hughes relaxing with a flight simulator, Jacobs' acknowledging awkwardness with new-found fame, the Jamaican sprint queens' training camp drama, Christie revealing his competitive use of rival Carl Lewis' image, and the frequent looks inside the entrance tunnels and on the warm-up tracks are all elements that bring a fresh look that we rarely see in the United States with track & field's airtime getting squeezed tighter and tighter.

I will admit to two criticisms: For one, SPRINT ends with its stars wrapping up their individual races in Budapest; Richardson charmingly, specifically noting that the road to Paris 2024 has begun ("Y'all got Olympics next year? Oh no...I gotta get my training on."), leaving a glaring miss that both Lyles and Richardson also won golds in the sprint relays - as well all know were key story lines from the competition.

And, secondly, SPRINT just whets the appetite for more. I want a beautifully-filmed documentary on Armand Duplantis and the pole vault, the long hurdlers, the 1500-meter runners, the colorful Yulimar Rojas, on and on. Us fans are starved for more!

In the meantime, track fans can't go wrong tuning into SPRINT for a quick fix to help set the stage for more showdowns in Paris.

p.s. Who agrees with me that Lyles' mom Keisha is the breakout star from Sprint? And I nominate the Jamaican Patois as a close second...

The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer (2021)
A Quick Book Review

Tennis multi-champion Roger Federer is a transcendent figure in sports - not just his sport, but across all, having risen to celebrity status while maintaining a remarkable air of dignity and humility. And, he's a four-time Olympian with two medals.

So, it's natural that I'd be keen to read The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer, a celebrated biography of his by noted The New York Times tennis journalist Christopher Clarey. So what took me so long? Chalk it up to life and ordinary, usual distractions. But here we are now.

Published in 2021 ahead of Federer's emotional retirement the following year, The Master is a comprehensive look at the champion's career, from junior start in Switzerland through his rise in the rankings and highlighting key moments and rivalries on the court. It's all there to relive, including revisits to championship points and the ups and downs of a tennis life - match points and tiebreakers with fellow 'Big Three' members Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Not shy to reiterate Federer's penchant for playfulness, nor his early tempestuousness, Clarey showcases a man with strong roots in family and with a centered sense of his own presence.

Granted, none of that is neither surprising nor particularly unknown. What makes The Master most compelling then is the wealth of detail to both Federer's character and to outlining his inner circles of coaches, management, and family. Were I to find fault in anything, it'd be a lack of current comment from his most inner circle, in particular his wife Mirka (herself a Sydney 2000 tennis Olympian), and Federer himself.

But that's a small quibble in the face of such an otherwise comprehensive tome on one of the greats in sport. Federer's stellar career deserves a stellar review; The Master​ largely delivers.

Captains of the World (2023)
A Quick TV Review

One might be tempted to think that Netflix's Captains of the World​ is a direct follow-up to it's earlier docuseries Captains​, which showcased qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup through the eyes of select team captains.

Not quite, as Captains of the World is more of a general, overall recap of that FIFA World Cup, with some highlighted commentary from team captains.

For those who may have been living under a rock during that period...2022's FIFA World Cup was a landmark event - the preeminent global soccer tournament occurring for the first time in the Middle East (Qatar), in November and December, no less, to avoid summer heat, and under a cloud of uncomfortable realities the host selection provided.

But the quality of play and on-field drama was not lacking, and Captains of the World does a pretty good job of offering a quality recap. (Netflix has gotten pretty good at these sports series, no?)

All the major competition plot lines discovered at Qatar 2002 are here - Team Argentina's loss to Team Saudi Arabia, Team Iran's silent protest, the significance Team Wales' appearance, the political overtones of the Team USA vs Team Iran match, star Cristiano Ronaldo's bencing in Team Portugal's run, Team Japan leading the way in the Group Stage, the tension of that Team Argentina vs Team Netherlands quarterfinal match, Team England's Harry Kane vs Team France's Hugo Lloris in a rare matchup of team captains who are club teammates, the overall success of African teams - particularly the Moroccan run to the semifinals* - and even the drama of Team Denmark's participation. (To recap: not only did the Danes rally around the return of star Christian Eriksen after a severe health scare, but was perhaps the most outspoken team against those aforementioned Qatar issues.)

And, Olympic connections abound in interviews and featured recaps. From Beijing 2008 gold medalist Lionel Messi to teammate Alexis Mac Allister (Tokyo 2020), Maya Yoshida (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Tokyo 2020), Cristiano Ronaldo (Athens 2004), Neymar (London 2012, Rio 2016), and prospective Olympians Kylian Mbappe and Tyler Adams.

Captains of the World's beautiful footage and on-target retrospection builds nicely to the culmination of Team Argentina's win in the end, providing - *apologies to an announcer's claim regarding Team Morocco's and African success at Qatar 2022 - the 'story of the tournament' in living soccer legend Messi finally winning the coveted trophy for the first time.

And don't miss the reality check of seeing Team Brazil star Thiago Silva reconnecting with Team Croatia's Mateo Kovacic in a subdued post-match encounter, reminding us of the humanity of the players behind their heroics on the field. It's another view of the stars that for one month at least, really were 'captains of the world'.