The Weight of Gold Documentary Review: Did I watch two sports documentaries in a row? Maybe…
This summer has been a bit quiet with the delay of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics…but luckily for us, there’s a lot of sports documentaries that came out! The Weight of Gold is an HBO documentary that helps fill a bit of my Olympics void, and similar to Athlete A, discusses the ways in which organizations have failed to protect athletes who are competing at the highest level. Narrated by and starring Michael Phelps, The Weight of Gold has a group of former Olympians testify to the roller coaster ride of having sports be the center of their lives. And more importantly, that while they are being physically primed to succeed in their sport, their mental health suffers dire consequences. I thought this documentary was extremely interesting and I highly recommend!
The Weight of Gold is well-structured and hits a lot of important topics before getting to the darker issues of mental health. The hard-hitting topics like depression and suicide are really humbling and sad…but important to hear. Towards the beginning, what was really memorable for me was hearing about the financial difficulties that athletes face while training. You would think that anyone who medals at the Olympics would at the very least have stable finances, but the reality for these athletes can be pretty bleak. In general, I thought the people in this documentary were really candid and open about their struggles, which made it really easy to stay engaged. Athletes who make it to the Olympics are already incredible as it is, and I would happily listen to any of them talk about their experiences. This documentary makes you realize all over again that at the end of the day, we’re all just humans trying to figure out how to navigate life.
In conclusion…
It’s mentioned in the documentary, but Olympians are basically like superheroes for the younger generation, and it’s so important that if/when they have a platform, they can speak out for good causes. The Weight of Gold is exemplary in how it creates engaging material for people to understand the importance of de-stigmatizing mental health, and not just for Olympians, but for people from all walks of life.