News

Olympic gold champion Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from the gymnastics team final and not defend her all-around gold medal has been praised by both Hollywood and fellow athletes alike.

Hitting back at negative criticism from the likes of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk, who branded Biles a “shame to the country,” and Piers Morgan, came a world of support from those who believe the 4-time gold medalist did the right thing.

Fellow Olympian Dominique Moceanu is among the recent supporters of Biles, as she posted a video to Twitter documenting the injuries she endured as a 14-year-old competing in a floor exercise routine.

Moceanu tweeted, “I was 14 y/o w/ a tibial fracture, left alone w/ no cervical spine exam after this fall. I competed in the Olympic floor final minutes later. Simone Biles decision demonstrates that we have a say in our own health – ‘a say” I Never felt I had as an Olympian.

Lolo Jones certainly knows how to make lemonade out of lemons.

The former Olympian was deep into training for the 2020 Olympics, “in one of my best physical shapes,” she tells Variety, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and those games got postponed. Rather than fall behind in her regimen, she pivoted to focus on training to be a part of the United States’ bobsled team at the 2022 Winter Olympics. But, as the pandemic raged on, that training season got shut down, too. With “all this built up energy,” Jones pivoted again and joined the cast of MTV’s “The Challenge: Double Agents.”

“Imagine training for something for four years and then it’s completely shut down, and you’re sitting on your couch. I just wanted to compete, and they had set up the safe parameters to film, and so I thought it would be a good way to release all of that energy,...

In another universe, this summer’s sports-centric programming looks quite a bit different than it does in our current (and very strange) reality, from major league sports like baseball and basketball not existing in a literal bubble to the only-every-four-years spectacle of the Olympics unspooling in Japan. In fact, the latest edition of the Summer Olympics would have kicked off this very week, with the world’s best athletes gathering in and around Tokyo for two weeks of competition. Brett Rapkin’s “The Weight of Gold,” which assembles a sterling array of Olympic athletes to talk candidly about their struggles with mental health, starts with a necessary nod to what would have been another entry in classic Olympic mania.

It even suggests an important question: perhaps they’re better without it? It’s an idea worth pondering, especially as Rapkin’s documentary steadily builds over the course of just one hour to show,...

The aim of “The Weight of Gold” is both simple and noble: to remind everyone who’s ever tuned in to the Olympics that the competing athletes are, despite their seemingly unattainable strength, human beings. Narrated by Olympic legend and executive producer Michael Phelps, the HBO Sports documentary details the extraordinary drive and dedication it takes for someone to get to the Olympics, the “overwhelming” reality of being there, and most keenly of all, the suddenly steep climb to stability that awaits them once they’re home. It enlists Olympians like Phelps, snowboarder Shaun White, speed-skater Apolo Anton Ohno and figure skaters Sasha Cohen and Gracie Gold to detail their lives in and out of the Games with unprecedented candor. In openly discussing the unique pressure and deflation that defines an Olympian’s life arc, each testimony helps humanize an experience that, to many sitting at home, feels more like...

Behind every Olympic win is an unforgettable journey filled with highs and lows. With six medals under his belt, Team USA's Bode Miller may look like the ultimate success story on paper. But according to the alpine ski racer, being an Olympic medalist isn't all celebratory. Bode, along with several other world-famous competitors including Michael Phelps, Lolo Jones, Shaun White, Gracie Gold and Apolo Ohno, agreed to participate in The Weight of Gold, HBO Sports' new documentary that explores the mental health challenges that some Olympic athletes face. According to Bode, it was important to speak up in hopes of bringing change to future athletes of all...

Welcome back to Tune In: our weekly newsletter offering a guide to the best of the week’s TV.

Each week, Variety’s TV team combs through the week’s schedule, selecting our picks of what to watch and when/how to watch them. As many across the country continue to practice self-isolation due to coronavirus, why not while away a few hours on some of the shows below?

This week, Beyoncé launches her visual album on Disney Plus, and “The Umbrella Academy” returns.

“The Weight of Gold,” HBO, Wednesday, 9 p.m.

Despite the Olympics being postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, HBO is going ahead with airing its documentary feature “The Weight of Gold,” which explores the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes often face. The doc features interviews with Michael Phelps, Jeremy Bloom, Lolo Jones, Gracie Gold, Bode Miller, Shaun White, and posthumously, Jeret Peterson and Steven Holcomb.

HBO Sports has a new doc called The Weight of Gold, and it covers a topic you don’t often see brought-up in regards to sports: mental health. Specifically, it focuses on the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes face, and includes interviews with Michael Phelps, Jeremy Bloom, Lolo Jones, Gracie Gold, Bode Miller, Shaun White, and more. Watch The […]

The post ‘The Weight of Gold’ Trailer: An HBO Documentary About Mental Health Challenges Facing Olympic Athletes appeared first on /Film.

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings and monthly guide to What’s on Streaming.

With more than 530 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

More from TVLineTV Streaming Service GuideWhat's New on Netflix — Plus: Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ and OthersWynonna Earp's Melanie Scrofano Teases an Eventful,...

HBO has announced a new premiere day for “The Third Day,” a limited series starring Jude Law and Naomie Harris.

“The Third Day,” will which now debut on HBO and HBO Max on Monday, Sept. 14 at 9 p.m. Et/Pt, is comprised of two halves totaling six episodes. The first three, “Summer,” star Law. The final three, “Winter,” star Harris.

The series was originally slated to premiere on May 11, but it was pushed in April due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Also Read: Bridget Everett-Led Comedy 'Somebody Somewhere' Set at HBO

Told over the first three episodes, “Summer” follows Sam (Law), a man who is drawn to a mysterious island off the British coast where he encounters a group of islanders set on preserving their traditions at any cost, according to the premium cable channel and its new streaming offshoot. Isolated from the mainland, Sam is unable to leave the...

In today’s TV news roundup, HBO revealed the trailer for “The Weight of Gold,” a documentary about Olympians’ mental health challenges, and Netflix announced the premiere date for its upcoming animated comedy “Hoops.”

Greenlights

Epix announced “By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem,” a four-part docuseries that explores the music scene of 1960s Harlem and connects it to music trends seen today, will premiere this fall. The series will combine moments from the cabler’s drama series “Godfather of Harlem” with archival footage and interviews to tell the story of Harlem musicians who used their voices, instruments and music as weapons against oppression. Contemporary artists will be featured as well. The docuseries is executive produced by Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean and Keith McQuirter.

First Looks

HBO unveiled the official trailer for “The Weight of Gold,” set to premiere July 29. Featuring interviews with Michael Phelps,...

Michael Phelps, Shaun White, Sasha Cohen and many other Olympians examine their relationship with “post-Olympic depression” in a new documentary, The Weight of Gold, which released its first trailer on Monday.

The HBO Sports film will debut on HBO and on streaming via HBO Max on Wednesday, July 29th at 9:00 p.m. Et, around when the Summer Olympics were scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Japan, this year — prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the trailer, athletes open up about how “40 seconds will dictate our human lives,” before the...

Several new students are enrolling at the Elite school: Season 4 of Netflix’s Spanish teen drama will welcome new cast members Andrés Velencoso, Manu Rios, Carla Díaz, Martina Cariddi, Pol Granch and Diego Martín.

The newbies will be “part of the universe of Las Encinas, one way or the other,” the official release teases. “Their characters will cross paths with Guzmán, Samuel, Ander, Omar, Rebeca and Cayetana.” Check out a fresh cast photo above.

More from TVLineElite Renewed for Season 4 at Netflix -- Which Cast Members May Not Be Back?TVLine's Performer of the Week: Sterling K. BrownQuotes of the Week: Grey's Anatomy,...

"It's gold... And then what?" HBO has released a trailer for The Weight of Gold, a film by award-winning sports history filmmaker Brett Rapkin. The revealing and powerful documentary explores the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes often face in deeply personal detail. The film debuts later this month at the same time as the 2020 Summer Games with 11,000 world class athletes in attendance were slated to be competing in Tokyo, Japan. It features accounts from Olympic athletes who share their own struggles with mental health issues, including Michael Phelps, Jeremy Bloom, Lolo Jones, Gracie Gold, Bode Miller, Shaun White, and many others. HBO has been releasing an impressive slate of compelling, honest, eye-opening doc films these last few years about so many different topics. This one looks like an excellent double feature with the doc In Search of Greatness, also about the passion of athletes and the never-ending push to be the best.

Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time, but what’s left to accomplish after you’ve proved you’re the best in the world? In the new documentary “The Weight of Gold,” Phelps takes a long look at life after the Olympics and how he was not alone in experiencing depression after winning it all.

“The Weight of Gold” is an HBO Sports documentary executive produced by Phelps and features interviews with Olympians who discuss going their entire lives without normal childhoods, without outside skills or interests beyond their sport, without any plans after the Olympics and whose entire lives have been defined by a rapid, 40-second race.

“We’re just so lost. A good 80 percent, maybe more, develop a post-Olympic depression,” Phelps says in the documentary trailer. “I thought of myself as just a swimmer, and not a human being, and that’s where I thought,...