The world has watched the Olympics in London, now continuing. It’s interesting to go back a ways and see an Olympics from an earlier time, Tokyo 1964 in the classic documentary by Kon Ichikawa. It was the first big international event held in Japan since the second world war ended. You see Olympian runners who weren’t sponsored by international corporations, just regular guys and gals: plumbers, teachers, and so on. Swimming styles were different, track shoes were just regular old Adidas, and the East African marathoners didn’t even wear shoes anyway.
You can watch a 2-hour long cut of the film on Youtube, and the original full-length can be seen on the Olympics website, but a login is required.
The cold war was in full swing, with the Soviet Union and the USA vying for dominance. America was in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. It was just four years before Tommy Smith raised his fist in protest in Mexico City, wearing his gold medal. It’s a fascinating documentary and although a time capsule, it is timeless.
You can go thirty years further back for another classic, but controversial, Olympics film, this time from Hitler’s Germany by the young, talented, and adoring filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl. Olympia, 1938, sought to depict the superiority of Aryan athletic process, but instead it was African Americans like Jesse Owens who were winning events, just like Joe Louis had defeated Max Schmeling three years earlier.
*Editor’s note: This post was updated with a new image, video, and links on September 26, 2025.