Customer Reviews

Quest for the Gold - Track & Field (Sydney 2000 Olympics) [VHS]

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Though it's always a pleasure to have track and field events available on video, this production has too many of the faults of the NBC Olympic coverage. Too much emphasis on U.S. athletes, pathetic coverage of distance events, and next to nothing on the throws. That as much time was given to the CJ Hunter/Marion Jones news conference as was given to one of the greatest 10,000 meter races in Olympic history demonstrates the problem better than I can express. Watching the last lap of the men's and women's 5000 and 10,000 is like watching the last 5-10 meters of the 100, or worse.

For true track fans, being treated like nationalistic chauvinists is demeaning. One can only hope that Track and Field News will make available a complete video production of the Olympics, maybe contract for the Canadian feed, so true fans can see *full* coverage of the great track athletes from around the world: Gebresallasie, Tergat, Szabo, Jonathan Edwards, and so on. It's time we had that rather than what the marketing wags at NBC decide to package and sell.

You can find better coverage of the Sydney Olympics online. After I ordered this tape, I read the accolades for Bud Greenspan, NBC's Olympic video producer, and got ready to relive the moments. I was disappointed, to say the least. I wrote a letter to NBC excoriating them for actually cutting out the middle of the 800 meter races (they're only 2 minutes long, for Pete's sake!), among other things. I never heard back. You would think that they could use their extensive footage of the Games for something, but no. Although the coverage of the women's 400 meters and Kathy Freeman was great - a truly inspiring story there, as opposed to the Marion Jones overplay - this video is not worth the 5 cents it cost to make, and Bud Greenspan should be ashamed. Don't buy it!

If you are a track and field fan or an olympics fan or know someone who is, this video should definately be an addition to your video archive. The video truly captures the olympic spirit and the aesthetics of track and field. It is the next best thing to actually attending the Olympic Games. So, for all of those who either missed the Olympics or are dieing to see it again, I highly recommend this video.