Documentary ‘The Weight Of Gold’ Depicts The Dark Side Of Olympic Competition

It was a visit to the eye doctor that changed Brett Rapkin’s life. 

He was seeking treatment for a corneal condition when a book in the waiting room captured his attention.

“It was Steven Holcomb’s book, ‘But Now I See: My Journey from Blindness to Olympic Gold,’ I was blown away by that book,” explains Rapkin. 

In the biography, Holcomb, an American bobsled driver who won an Olympic gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and four World Championships, shares his traumatic account of losing his sight due to a degenerative eye disease and his remarkable comeback.  

Rapkin, suffering from the same issue, was working with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, who had treated Steven’s condition. 

He was so intrigued by Holcomb’s story that Rapkin, an experienced sports documentarian, set out to make a film about the athlete. 

But, the narrative shifted for several reasons, one of which was something Rapkin discovered as he was interviewing Holcomb. “I started learning that a lot of athletes were really struggling with post Olympic depression, which I was not previously familiar with.” 

Post Olympic depression is described as the anxiety created by the competitive pressure, media visibility, and physical exertion that many athletes experience leading up to the competition. This is then combined with the feeling of a “crash,” after the games in which the athletes come down from the physical and mental height of the intense competition and sink into depression.

To get a better understanding of the issue, Rapkin reached out to record-setting Olympic swimmer Micheal Phelps, who has been vocal about his mental health struggles. “He talked about it when he was getting ready to go to Rio [for the 2016 Olympics], and in the years since he’s just really been dedicating himself to a lot of work in this area.” 

Directed by Rapkin and narrated by Phelps, who is also interviewed, The Weight of Gold features snowboarder Shaun White, skiers Bode Miller Jeret Peterson, and Jeremy Bloom, track and field athlete Lolo Jones, figure skaters Gracie Gold and Sasha Cohen, along with speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, diver David Boudia and bobsledder Katie Uhlaender. 

Rapkin says that Phelps was all in to participate in the film, “I think one thing that makes the film so powerful is that he’s standing shoulder to shoulder with all these other Olympians sharing what turns out to be an extremely common problem.”

If the world wasn’t currently experiencing the pandemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be in full swing. This documentary, obviously timed to air during the Olympics now supersedes the event by a year. Rapkin says that there were discussions about moving the film as well, but that it was decided that this is the right time for the premiere. “This was an urgent story, and we just felt we didn’t want to wait.” He did admit that due to the current situation, they did rewrite the beginning of the film to address the pandemic.

In fact, Rapkin and his team feel that now might even be a more important time for The Weight of Gold to air, explaining, “You know, right now, everybody is either personally dealing with mental health challenges or knowing somebody close to them who is, and if they weren’t before the coronavirus, they are now.”

He adds, “Feeling vulnerable is something that we can all relate to, especially now. Hearing that these athletes are experiencing the same emotions will, hopefully, really reduce some stigma, and let everybody know you know as we say in the film, it’s okay not to be okay.” 

While it’s about the Olympics, the documentary doesn’t shed a very flattering light on the US Olympic committee, When asked about their reaction to the film Rapkin responded with, “They’re very aware of the project and I wouldn’t want to speak on their behalf, but I will say that I think all of the athletes and everybody involved in this are ready to see some real action. Just forming a committee of some sort isn’t enough. There is absolutely a need for real changes in compensation and the availability of mental health insurance and things like that.” 

Expounding on this, he adds, “Whether it’s the US Olympic Committee or the NFL or Amazon
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, every employer who is successfully monetizing off the backs of players, workers or employees, needs to be held accountable to take care of their people.”

With regard to the actual Olympics as a whole, Rapkin has a positive attitude about the event, saying, “The games next year could be the greatest opportunity for the world to reunite.It’s one of the only events in which the entire population is watching something at the same time and that’s rare in the segmented media world that we’re now living in.”

And, it will be a great time to celebrate, “having come out on the other end of this bizarre moment in human history,” says Rapkin.

He also believes that the Olympics are important in that they provide tremendous exposure for some sports that are often overlooked. “There are a lot of sports that don’t get much attention outside of the Olympics, so I think the games are important for this reason as well.”

Turning back to the documentary, Rapkin admits that he’s grateful to the athletes who had the courage to sit down for the film and just share. “I can’t imagine it was easy.”

But, he says, all of the struggle will be worth it if, “this documentary gives people some comfort, and helps them feel, especially now, that they’re not alone in the way they’re feeling.”

In the end, Rapkin believes that all credit should go to Holcomb, for helping everyone to see things more clearly. 

‘The Weight of Gold’ premieres Wednesday, July 29th at 9pm on HBO.