Product Details

• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Turner Home Ent
• VHS Release Date: May 7, 1996
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• ASIN: 6304016239
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,143 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Noted sports producer Bud Greenspan has done an admirable job of assembling some of the most dramatic moments of America's Olympic past. Old film footage and informative narration bring alive such feats as Dick Fosbury's setting of the high-jump record with his revolutionary "Fosbury Flop" in Mexico City in 1968, Dave Wottle's amazing come-from-behind victory in the 800-meter race in Munich in 1972, and Betty Robinson winning the first female gold medal in track and field in the 100-meter dash in Amsterdam in 1928. The dedication required to be an Olympian is demonstrated in interviews with Jeff Farell, who was back training to swim on the 1960 U.S. Olympic team within days of having his appendix removed. Also interviewed are pole vaulters Bob Richards and Don Bragg; legendary diver Sammy Lee; a diver Lee later coached, Greg Louganis; gymnast Mary Lou Retton; and runner Betty Robinson. The video ends with a stirring segment on marathoner Joan Benoit, who pulled out in front of the pack in the women's marathon in Los Angeles in 1984 and never looked back. While skipping back and forth through the decades, producer Greenspan, the recipient of numerous Emmy Awards for his work in sports television, pulls together a stirring portrait of what the indomitable Olympic spirit is all about. --Robert J. McNamara