Plenty of great films have been made about the No.1 Olympic sport but the gold medal has to go to Chariots of Fire

Here are some of best films about running and athletics ever made.

1 Chariots of Fire

The story of sprinters Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell in their build-up to the 1924 Paris Olympics deservedly won four Oscars.

It is 40 years since it hit the cinema but the images of the athletes running on the beach under leaden skies to the backdrop of music from Vangelis still manages to put a chill down the spine.

The May 2021 issue of AW magazine features an in-depth article by the athletics advisor for the movie, Tom McNab – to buy a copy CLICK HERE

Harold Abrahams (Getty Images)

2 Gallipoli

Coincidentally, like Chariots of Fire, this was also released in 1981. It is more of an anti-war movie than an athletics film, but the two lead actors, Mel Gibson and Mark Lee, play talented sprinters in Australia who join the army to fight in the First World War in Turkey.

The film begins with an inspirational pre-race pep talk by Lee’s coach and a barefoot race against a man on horseback before a professional ‘gift’ race and then, finally, a tragic sprint out of the trenches into No Man’s Land.

3 The Games

A marathon movie that divides opinion, the plot centres on four runners from Britain (Michael Crawford), America (Ryan O’Neal), Czechoslovakia (Charles Aznavour) and Australia (Athol Compton) as they prepare for the Rome Olympics.

Directed by Michael Winner in 1970, it is cheesy and cliched in parts but it caught my imagination when watching it first time as a teenager. Crawford, who was a useful runner in reality, is pushed to breaking point by his maniacal coach, played by Stanley Baker, in the quest for the two-hour marathon!

Nonsense? Or ahead of its time?

For an excellent feature from Inside the Games on my controversial pick for No.3 on this list, CLICK HERE

4 Geordie

Bill Travers plays a Scottish strongman who competes in the 1956 Olympics in the hammer. It came out in 1955 but is still an enjoyable watch as Travers, who is dubbed ‘Wee Geordie’ in the film due to his scrawny physique as a child, does a bodybuilding course and eventually grows into an Olympic thrower.

5 Without Limits

This is the best movie made about the iconic American distance runner Steve Prefontaine. Billy Crudup plays the runner and Donald Sutherland his coach Bill Bowerman, while it is co-produced by Tom Cruise. The action sequences, especially of Munich Olympics, are brilliantly shot and it is a fine tribute to the short life of one of America’s best-known athletes.

6 Fast Girls

Deliberately brought out to coincide with the London 2012 Olympics, the film sees working-class athlete (Lenora Crichlow) and the posh and spoiled rival sprinter (Lily James) come together in a sprint relay team. It’s a feel-good and fun film, although it’s no Chariots of Fire.

7 Jericho Mile

A prisoner (Peter Strauss) convicted of murder trains as a runner in the prison yard and soon realises he has Olympic potential. Originally made for television, it went on to win three Emmy Awards, although it feels a little dated now as it came out in 1979.

8 Jim Thorpe – All American

Burt Lancaster plays the great Native American athlete who starred at the 1912 Olympics, where he won the pentathlon and decathlon titles only to have them controversially taken away after breaking amateur rules for being paid to play baseball. The 1951 movie was known as Man of Bronze in the UK and does a brilliant job of telling the story of one of the greatest all-round athletes in history.

9 McFarland

Based on a true story, Kevin Coster builds a team of cross-country runners from humble backgrounds who go on to win state titles. It had a low-key release in 2015 but is a genuine running movie with a great plot and a big-name actor to give it kudos.

10 Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

The oldest movie on this list, it came out in 1962 and features Tom Courtenay as a rebellious teenager who ends up in borstal but gains pleasure from distance running. Ultimately he faces a showdown with upper-class boys from a local public school when they compete against the boys from the borstal in a cross-country race.