On your marks…

The Olympic Games have always kind of passed me by – ridiculous I know. Maybe because I was never very good at games at school, maybe because I was more of a film buff so always took that option when it was on the telly, or maybe it was just because it’s not something I really understand. I had a similar attitude towards Wimbledon, until one year I unexpectedly was given some tickets to go along and see the tennis in situ and have thoroughly enjoyed it ever since. Watching Faster, Higher, Stronger brought about a twinge of that first game on Centre Court I managed to catch from the edge of my seat at the back of the stands. Maybe it’s time I took the time to find out more.

Funnily enough, finding out more is exactly what this new series of education and inspiration-inducing sports documentaries are all about. The first episode (you’ll see they’re scattered across the entire week) tackles one of the flagship events of the Olympics, the 100m men’s sprint. From the inaugural modern Games in 1896 when a runner named Tom Burke decided to take a new tack with a crouching start, right through 20th century Olympic Games, through politics and scandal as well as the evolution of the race and its runners, right up to the latest exciting steps in the race’s progression. I never knew these were exciting times before this programme. Now I’m excited – good job BBC2.

“I never knew these were exciting times before this programme”

The trigger of interest, with first Wimbledon and now the Olympic Games 100m race, has been context. Like when Hitchcock revolutionised how we watch movies with the launch of Psycho by banning people from coming in to the cinema at any time other than the beginning (previously people could drop in whenever they fancied, rather fouling up big reveals). Faster, Higher, Stronger tells the tale of the race chronologically through history and geographically across the track, delivering a greater understanding historically and technically of what I had previously thought was probably just a bunch of highly trained men running as fast as they could for around ten seconds. That’s simply the big reveal – like Hitchcock’s films without a bit of understanding of the lead-up to this momentous time.

By the way, I am being deliberately vague as to the details of what was revealed. To continue the analogy, I don’t want to be the one to tell you (spoiler alert) that Janet Leigh dies at the beginning or that it was really a chap with severe mother issues. Where would be the fun in that? Indeed, it would hardly be sporting.

Faster, Higher, Stronger, BBC2, Monday 9 July 2012