l_ t was 1948, and London, still in the
So his approach is to look behind the
throes of rations and rebuilding af- medal stand and the endorsement notices,
ter World War II, hosted the interna- to find the small triumphs of the human
tional spectacle of an Olympic Games. spirit that the Olympic Games magnify.
"You can win by losing, and by making
Bud Greenspan, attending his first
Olympiad, doesn't remember the London the attempt," says the deep-voiced 69-year-
old. 'There are no great people; rather there
Games for its geopolitical statement.
"I remember Karoli Takasz, a shotput- are great challenges that ordinary people
ter who had had his hand shot off in the meet. Honor should not go to those who
have not fallen, but to
war and won the gold g
medal with the other g
those who fall and rise up
again."
hand," says the Emmy rg
Award-winning film- 5,-
A New York native
maker in a telephone ,_
with a shiny, Kojakesque
interview from New t
pate, Greenspan was a
York.
childhood baseball nut
Greenspan's latest
who yearned to play in
tribute to the Olympics, cz,
the big leagues. By adult-
"America's Greatest
hood, he realized this
Olympians," premieres
dream was of the pipe va-
on TBS at 9 p.m. Sun-
riety, so he turned to
day, June 30. 'The hu-
sports broadcasting. By
manity of sports
21, he was sports director
intrigues me — I've al-
at WMGM radio, covering
ways seen sports from
New York area teams and
the outside, never the
sporting events. "I was
inside," he says.
not very good as a broad-
As Atlanta prepares
caster, but knowledge-
for the centennial Olympic obsession: Filmmaker Bud
able," he recalls. In 1967,
Olympic Games next Greenspan explores the human stories
he and his late wife, Cap-
month, Greenspan fo- behind the medal stand in "America's
py Petrash Greenspan,
cuses again on the hu- Greatest Olympians" premiering Sunday formed their own compa-
man spirit amid the at 9 p.m. on TBS.
ny to produce sports docu-
spectacle. "America's
mentaries. He and his
Greatest Olympians" explores the triumphs crew arrived in Atlanta this month to be-
of stars like Mary Lou Retton, Dick Fos- gin documenting the centennial Olympics.
In his documentaries, Greenspan offers
bury, Bob Beamon and Wyomia Tyus but
also discusses the struggles each made to as much melodrama and sentimentality as
history. But the films revive forgotten he-
get to the medal stand.
Since the late 1940s, Greenspan has seen roes.
In "America's Greatest Olympians," he
sportsmanship decline so much that it now
seems a quaint old custom practiced by few. tells the story of canoeing gold medalist
Audibly disturbed, he criticizes the sports Frank Havens, whose father, Bill, was fa-
media for sensationalizing violent, crude vored to win his own gold medal in the sport
behavior.
at the 1924 Olympics. But Bill stayed home
"I think we're missing the boat. We're for the birth of his son
Marathoner Joan
accentuating the negative aspect of sports," Frank. When Frank Benoit
won a gold
won
the
gold
in
Helsin-
he says sharply. "We're not giving young
medal in the 1984
people much to emulate by giving them Id in 1956, he sent this
Olympics.
telegram to his father:
anti-heroes."
"Dear Dad. Thanks for waiting around for
me to get born. I'm coming home with the
Susan Bernstein is the art and culture
gold medal you should have won."
editor for our sister paper The Atlanta
The film offers another tale of a little-
Jewish Times.
>-
(/)
UJ
Through Bud Greenspan's lens, the human
side of the Olympic Games emerges.
SUSAN BERNSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS