Movie Reviews
The Olympic Series: Golden Moments 1920-2002
In this Special Collector's Edition 3 DVD set of "The Olympic Series: Golden Moments 1920-2002" you will have access to six and a half hours of exciting Olympic footage. The three disks are entitled "The Spirit of the Olympics", "The Winter Games", and "Olympic Highlights". The running footage can be found on the first and third disk and in all over 150 individual events have been selected. There is no release that provides so much Olympic competition in one location. The menu leads you to specific races and you can select a language choice of either English or French. For easy reference here are the running events in chronological order: Antwerp 1920, Paavo Nurmi (Finland) 10,000 meters. Paris 1924, Harold Abraham (Great Britain) 100 meters, Eric Liddell (Great Britain) 400 meters, Paavo Nurmi (Finland) 5000 meters. Berlin 1936, Jesse Owens (United States) 100, 200, 4x100 Relay; Sohn Kee-Chung (South Korea) marathon. London 1948, Herb McKenley (Jamaica) 400 meters, Fanny Blankers-Koen (Netherlands) 100 meters, 200 meters, 80 meter hurdles, 4x100 relay; Shirley Strickland (Australia) 100 meters and 100 meter hurdles. Helsinki 1952, Josy Barthel (Luxembourg) 1500 meters, Horace Ashenfelter (United States) and Vladimir Kazantsev (Russia) 3000 meter steeplechase, Alain Mimoun (France) 5000 and 10,000 meters, Emil Zátopek (Czechoslovakia) 5000, 10,000, and marathon. Rome 1960, Otis Davis (United States) 400 meters and 4x400 meters, Peter Snell (New Zealand) 800 meters, Herb Elliott (Australia) 1500 meters, Murray Halberg (New Zealand) 5000 meters, Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia) marathon, Rafer Johnson (United States) and Yang Chuan-Kwang (Taiwan) decathlon. Tokyo 1964, Billy Mills (United States) 10,000 meters, Poland's Women's 4x100m relay ream. Mexico City 1968, Lee Evans (United States) 400 meters, Kip Keino (Kenya) 1500 meters, Irena Szewinska (Poland) 200 meters, Colette Bessen (France) 400 meters. Munich 1972, John Akii-Bua (Uganda) 400 meter hurdles. Montreal 1976, Alberto Juantorena (Cuba) 400 and 800 meters, Edwin Moses (United States) 400 meter hurdles, Bruce Jenner (United States) decathlon. Moscow 1980, Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett (Great Britain) 800 and 1500 meters. Los Angeles 1984, Edwin Moses (United States) 400 meter hurdles, Daley Thompson (Great Britain) and Jürgen Hingsen (West Germany) decathlon. Seoul 1988, Carl Lewis (United States) 100 meters, Florence Griffith Joyner (United States) 100, 200, and 4x100 relay; Jackie Joyner Kersee (United States) heptathlon. Barcelona 1992, Linford Christie (Great Britain) 100 meters, Fermin Cacho Ruiz (Spain) 1500 meters, Kevin Young (United States) 400 hurdles, Hwang Young-Cho (South Korea) marathon, Ellen Van Langen (Netherlands) 800 meters, Hassiba Boulmerka (Algeria) 1500 meters, Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia) and Elana Meyer (South Africa) 10,000 meters, Paraskevi Patoulidou (Greece) 100 meter hurdles, Nigerian Women's 4x100m relay team. Sydney 2000, Haile Gebrsellasie (Ethiopia) 10,000 meters, Cathy Freeman (Australia) 400 meters. With all the Olympic and World Record performances that are shown, it is interesting that notable Olympic accomplishments from runners such as Lasse Viren, Joan Benoit, Michael Johnson, and Marion Jones are not included in this compilation. Perhaps they are leaving some room for an additional release four years from now. For you field event fans be sure to catch Dick Fosbury, Ulrike Meyfarth, Bob Beamon, Sergei Bubka, and Al Oerter, to name a few. This production was made in Canada and is narrated by Robert Powell and on some of the segments you will see short interviews with the athletes.
