Daley Thompson was a superstar. A genuine icon. If like me, you up in 80s Britain, Thompson was the athletics hero. Yes there were football players that we'd pretend to be whilst playing, but if you were running, jumping, throwing, you wanted to be Daley. Thompson you see was a Decathlon champion. This is an all star account with contributions from Seb Coe, Linford Christie, Caitlyn Jenner, Sharron Davies, Colin Jackson, Tessa Sanderson, Steve Cram and many more. One thing the athletics community does brilliantly, is rally around to support and celebrate its own. It's a story with a sad start, a difficult childhood, bad things happening focusing a child on looking forward, being positive. We're not all like this of course, but this is a clear cornerstone of Thompson's life... drive. That drive opened doors, well that along with being grease lightning on the running track. The 70s were a different era for track and field. Little structure, zero finance. You're doing it on your own, for the love of it. Daley: Olympic Superstar is built around a mix of old archive and the present day, with Daley now there for his son also competing. It makes for a really well rounded picture of the man. Winning sprint races, his trainer, Bob says "Do you know what a Decathlon is?". If ever there's a faithful moment, this is it. He's 16, never even tried 7 of the 10 disciplines, gets entered for a last minute event and as he sits there now in a sweatshirt and a grey beard telling the story, with a smile on his face he says "Guess who wins". On his way, he's soon bending Bruce Jenner's ear at the 76' Olympic Games in Montreal. Then hitting his stride in Moscow in 1980. The archive footage is lovely and not just the televised stuff, there's lots of shots running round freezing looking streets and training in barren looking gyms, all with that focused stare of a man selfishly obsessed with being the very best. It's a cracking story of a bloke striving and being rewarded for the monumental effort. Gold Medals, sponsorships, those iconic Lucozade TV ads that got me addicted to the stuff and the computer game that I spent hours plugged into my Commodore64. He was everywhere! Sadly another thing that was everywhere in the 80s was the NF and rampant racism. Having Daley then as an icon holding Olympic, European and Commonwealth Titles simultaneously was an even bigger deal that he was black, even though he states it's his actions that define him rather than his colour. Some of those actions though are questionable. It's not all happy happy joy joy, with fame and success comes press intrusion... and competition is never far away. That competition comes in 84 at the LA Olympics. I'm not going to say anymore, but it's brilliant and wonderfully put together. He was an incredible athlete, but not without a prickly side and that courts controversy. Another layer that makes this all the more riveting to watch.
