"The Weight of Gold" (2020 release; 60 min.) is a documentary about the mental health issues that Olympian athletes past and present have been and are struggling with. As the movie opens, we see aerial footage of Tokyo, where the 2020 Olympics should be taking place at this very minute but of course have been postponed until next year due to COVID-19. The coronavirus has impacted many people's mental health, including athletes. Micheal Phelps, the most decorated Olympic athlete in history, comments "I've been thinking about mental health issues a lot lately." We then go back in time and hear Michael, age 15, talk about his ambition to win gold at the Athens Olympics. Likewise from other athletes like Apolo Ohno, Shaun White, Sasha Cohen, etc "I didn't develop any outside interests, comments Cohen. "I was driven by a fear of failure", observes Ohno. At this point we are less than 10 min. into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this is the latest from long-time sports documentarian Brett Rapkin. Here he looks at what Olympic athletes go through to try and reach the top, and at what cost it comes, both physically and mentally. Please note that Michael Phelps is credited as Executive Producer, and also does the narration (in addition to being featured prominently). What is absolutely remarkable is how so many of them bring a similar narrative: basically being left to their own devices, even after repeated cries for help to the US Olympic Team, which appears to simply not care one way or another. Sadly for some athletes it became too much to bear. For those that did make it, such as Michael Phelps and Sasha Cohen (both in their mid-30s now), there is a great awareness and recognition that "it's okay not to be okay" and that the stigma of mental health issues among Olympic athletes needs to be talked about openly.
"The Weight of Gold" premiered this week on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand, Amazon Instant Video and other streaming services. If you have any interest in mental health issues or simply how life for Olympic athletes is not always roses and sunshine, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
