Games and People (Season 1)

Games and People (2023) is a sports documentary series you can watch online on iFILM. Each episode zooms in on a single defining moment from the careers of Soviet and Russian Olympians — a triumph, a collapse, a split-second that changed everything on the ice, the mat, or the track.

The show braids together three layers: archival competition footage, dramatized reconstructions of pivotal scenes, and first-person interviews. Figure skater Alexei Yagudin, gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, hockey goaltender Vladislav Tretiak and defenseman Slava Fetisov sit down to talk. They skip the podium gloss and get into what nobody filmed — the injuries, the pressure, the seconds where it all hung in the balance.

Director Yuri Odnopozov frames the project as a record of character rather than a dry tally of records. Its real strength is the athletes' own voices, filling in what the grandstands never saw. A solid pick for anyone drawn to the history of elite sport without the shine. Stream Games and People (2023) online on iFILM.