In what was an action-packed year of sports, the movies and tv shows about our athletes did not drop the proverbial ball, with a wide array of stories able to please even the most diehard sports fans.
This year documentaries were the favoured medium, ranging from stories of hallowed skateboarders players to baseball cult heroes and everything in between.
But there were also plenty of fictitious efforts, from reimaginings of historic sports moments to completely original stories crafted within the sporting world.
TONY HAWK: UNTIL THE WHEELS FALL OFF - Directed by Sam Jones
When you picture a Tony Hawk documentary, your first thoughts are probably a collection of ’90s-themed cool-related expressions, along the lines of ‘gnarly’ or ‘radical’.
Make no mistake, this movie is all of these things, but as the title suggests, it is also an in-depth look into the lows of Hawks’ career, including financial issues, relationship instability, and so, so so many injuries.
This may not inspire you to go out and pick up a skateboard, but it should give you a better understanding of the man many consider synonymous with the sport.
HUSTLE - Directed by Jeremiah Zagar
Adam Sandler is well known for making passion projects where he gets to be in dream scenarios, and 2022’s Hustle seems to be no different, as he plays a basketball scout who discovers the NBA’s next big thing in Bo Cruz (played by Juancho Hernangomez).
Over the course of nearly two hours, Hustle essentially assembles the basketball avengers as Sandler and Hernangomez navigate the cameo-heavy world of the NBA, delivering an enjoyable if not highly original story of sporting success.
SHANE - Directed by David Alrich, Jon Carey, and Jackie Munro
The sporting world was rocked this year by the sudden death of Australian cricket legend, Shane Warne, who passed away in March in Thailand.
Three months before that, the documentary ‘Shane’ was released, detailing the highs and lows of the King of Spin’s life, with input from Warne, his family, friends, opponents, and various fans including Ed Sheeran and Chris Martin.
Producer Brendan Dahill has said that the documentary “wasn’t supposed to be the definitive documentary; it was just supposed to be a chapter,” but the heartbreaking timing of the film leaves us with a final portrait of Warne as an imperfect, yet completely loved cricket legend.
The Redeem Team - Directed by Jon Weinbach
How does a team with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson, and Tim Duncan lose a game of basketball?
That is the question at the heart of Netflix’s documentary ‘The Redeem Team’, which details the failures of the 2004 USA Olympic basketball team, and the subsequent efforts of the 2008 team to regain the top spot in the basketball world.
Doubling as an ode to the late Kobe Bryant, this documentary provides an excellent insight into what makes an Olympic champion.
THE SWIMMERS - Directed by Sally El Hosaini
Continuing the Olympic theme is The Swimmers, the story of sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini, Syrian refugees who helped a boatload of fellow asylum seekers to safety by swimming alongside a sinking ship, dragging 18 people to shore over a three-and-a-half-hour swim.
Yusra Mardini and her sister fled Syria in 2015, and in 2016 she was competing at the Rio Olympics, competing in the 100 metres freestyle and butterfly for the Olympic Refugee Team.
This is a fairly conventional biopic, but it tells an important story, one of hardship and endurance, albeit with a bittersweet ending as Sarah Mardini is revealed to have been arrested and facing life imprisonment back in Syria.
CAPTAIN AHAB: THE STORY OF DAVE STIEB - Directed by Jon Bois
Jon Bois and the team over at Secret Base’s Dorktown were insanely busy in 2022, dropping a full-length documentary on the 2011 Charlotte Bobcats, a short film on the time the Pittsburgh Pirates blew a 10-0 lead, and another on the time a small plane crashed into the stands of the Baltimore Colts in 1976.
But far and away their most impressive work of the year was Captain Ahab: The Story of Dave Stieb, a four-part, three-hours and forty-minute series on the former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher.
As you can imagine, the series is expansive, and covers Stieb's entire career, with a special focus on two aspects: if he made the Baseball Hall of Fame, and if he ever pitched a no-hitter.
WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY - Directed by Adam McKay
The ‘Showtime’ Lakers were one of the most exciting eras in NBA history, and in this series creator Adam McKay attempted to show all of this off, not shying away from any of the famous, or infamous, elements of the early '80s team.
Of course, this was not well received by all members of the Lakers team; Magic Johnson, Jerry West, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came out against their depictions, and in August came the release of Hulu’s docuseries ‘Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers’.
But as they say, you should never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and Winning Time is exactly that, an entertaining rendering of the Lakers’ golden years, with perhaps a smidge of artistic license.
Of course, there are tonnes of movies and shows we didn't mention; Netflix's Untold series had episodes about college football star Manti Te'o, corrupt NBA ref Tim Donaghy, and the 1983 America's Cup, whilst Disney released a movie about the life of NBA superstar Giannis Antetokuonmpo.
2023 should also have some heavy hitters on the cards, such as Taika Waititi's soccer comedy Next Goal Wins, and the latest installment in the Rocky franchise, Creed III.
