Has the Paris 2024 Olympics got you in the mood for some sports-themed movies and dramas? If so, here’s a special selection of hit series and films that are bound to get your adrenaline flowing – and get you sprinting to the finish line in time to watch another athletics-flavored favorite!

Reach for the Stars

KBS, KOCOWA

At 17, Lee Gweon Suk, a talented boxer, becomes a sensation but vanishes before her grand slam. Now a kind-hearted kindergarten teacher, she conceals her tenacious "one-two punch" personality. Everything changes when she meets Kim Tae Young, an ice-cold and arrogant sports agent notorious for exploiting athletes, bleeding them dry, and forcing them into early retirement. He is furious upon discovering that Kim Hee Won, a brother-like figure and baseball pitcher, got involved in match-fixing due to Kim Oh Bok, an illegal sports gambling operator. Tae Young approaches Gweon Suk to help resolve Kim Hee Won's situation, knowing her boxing comeback would garner significant public interest. After persistent persuasion, the "Genius Boxer Who Hates Boxing's Final Retirement" project commences as planned by Tae Young, the exploitative retirement expert. With the sports industry tainted by match-fixing criminal organizations, will Gweon Suk, the genius boxer, be able to retire in glory?

My Lovely Boxer

🥊 Love in KO Team🥊

SET TV

Can a woman who can’t remember her past and a man who is trying to hide his true identity break a swim team’s losing streak? Yu Die (Mandy Wei) was a genius child prodigy who lost everything she loved. Yu Die’s mother drowned while trying to save Yu Die and, in one very bad day, Yu Die lost her mother, her memory and her ability to swim. Years later, she crosses paths with Gao Hai Fei (Kingone Wang), the CEO of a multibillion corporation. Intrigued by Yu Die’s lost memories, Hai Fei hides his true identity from her and gets mistaken for a professional part-time worker who is a jack-of-all-trades. Yu Die asks Hai Fei for his help with the “Sea Horse” Men’s Swim Team, which has never been able to win a meet and is the laughing stock of the sport of swimming. With Hai Fei searching for a “mermaid” crush from his past, will he agree to help Yu Die turn the losing swim team around? “Swimming Battle” is a 2016 Taiwanese drama series.

Swimming Battle

The Flying Fish Team

Many years ago, when they were high schoolers, Tang Xin (Xing Fei) met the tall and dashing Yuan Shen Qing (Hu Yi Tian). She instantly fell for him, although she didn’t tell him at the time. He told her that he wouldn’t forget her, but since then, their paths have gone in different directions: She has become a trainee reporter, while he has become the country’s leading 50-meter pistol shooter, heading China’s bid for Olympic glory. As the pistol shooting team prepares for the Olympics, Tang Xin is assigned to interview him. But when she is suddenly confronted by the man she held a candle for, she is overcome with nerves. He, meanwhile, is dismissive and cold toward her.

Tang Xin is assigned to film and interview the team as it prepares for the Olympics, but Yuan Shen Qing finds that he is unsettled by her presence, as it even starts to interfere with his performance. He cannot seem to understand why his aim is affected by Tang Xin. But as they spend more time together, he starts to wonder if he isn’t perhaps falling for her. Will Olympic glory – and maybe romance – come calling?

“Hello, the Sharpshooter” is a 2022 Chinese drama series that was directed by Liu Yi Zhi.

Hello, the Sharpshooter

Shot through the heart Team 💘

Bok Joo is a college student and a weightlifting player. She deeply loves her father, who is sick but sells fried chicken to support her. She can't stand injustice and values loyalty. She has never had a chance to go on a blind date as she is a weightlifting player, but she accepts it as her life. Jun Hyung is a swimmer who goes to the same college as Bok Joo. They used to know each other when they were kids. He constantly teases her, so she resents him. Jun Hyung has a cousin, Jae Yi. He is kind to everyone, so it sometimes causes misunderstanding, making some women feel led on. One day, Bok Joo runs into Jae Yi and falls for him after seeing him smile at her. She finds out he is a doctor at an obesity clinic and signs up for the weight-loss program at the clinic. However, Jun Hyung finds out about this, and he can't pass up the opportunity to tease her.

Weightlifting Fairy, Kim Bok-joo

I'm Busy Getting Stronger Team

Se Young is the youngest head of the management team of Dreams, a cellar-dwelling baseball team. She's highly recognized for her perseverance and intense passion for the team. One day, Seung Su is appointed as a general manager. Although he's been working in the sports field, the teams he led to the championship were unpopular, and some of them were even disbanded after winning the league due to the financial difficulties of their parent companies.

Stove League

Stove League Team

Youku

Li Yu Bing (Steven Zhang) is a shy, quiet boy at elementary school. He dreams of becoming a professional hockey player and is blessed with enormous talent.

But he cannot stand his tablemate, the loud and abrasive Tang Xue (Wu Qian), who despite her shared love of the ice rink, enjoys bullying and belittling him.

When they grow up, they are unexpectedly reunited at university, where their fates have taken very different paths. Li Yu Bing is now the most celebrated ice hockey player at the university – while Tang Xue’s dreams of becoming a professional speed skater are beginning to crumble.

Li Yu Bing initially sees the reunion as an opportunity to take revenge on the girl who once made his elementary school days such a nightmare. He uses his position of influence within the university to enlist Tang Xue as his assistant – hoping to torment her.

But things do not go quite as planned. Little by little, Li Yu Bing notices that Tang Xue is not all bad, and understands that she can actually help serve as a great source of inspiration for his own sporting dreams.

In turn, he helps her fall in love again with the sport she was on the verge of giving up.

However, their newfound harmony on the ice is not going to be trouble-free – especially when the duo must contend with disapproving parents and love rivals…

This drama was based on a novel written by author Jiu Xiao Qi.

“Skate into Love” is a 2020 Chinese drama series directed by Chu Yui Bun.

Skate into Love

The Skating Love Team

Having spent the majority of her life training, it comes as no surprise that now, as a college athlete, Yuan Lai (Luo Yu Tong) has garnered a fair amount of attention. But after claiming the title of judo champion at the City College League tournament, Yuan Lai’s fame skyrockets. Returning to school a hero in her own right, Yuan Lai now finds herself the center of attention, not just in the sporting world but in her everyday life as well.&nbsp;

While Yuan Lai makes a triumphant return to school, Jiang Gu Nan’s (Derek Chang) return to Shenan University is anything but. Once a champion swimmer, Gu Nan moved to Australia to train but plummeting grades and repeated failures have forced him to return home in shame. On opposite sides of the athletic spectrum, Yuan Lai and Gu Nan might never have met, had fate not decided to intervene in a most peculiar way.

Though their initial meeting wasn’t exactly idyllic, it did spark something between them: an inexplicable drive to further pursue their dreams. While spurring each other on, Yuan Lai and Gu Nan come to realize there’s a lot to admire in each other. Can this unexpected yet undeniable spark between them grow into something more?

A story of love, dreams, and inspiration, “So It’s You” is a 2022 Chinese romantic comedy drama directed by Luo Hui De.

So It’s You

Dragon TV

What can lure a retired coach back into the game? Mu Qi (Hu Ge) is a retired soccer coach who is having financial problems because of his past gambling habit. When he is asked to come back to the sport and coach the Yan Cui Ying High School’s losing soccer team, it doesn’t take too much arm-twisting to take the job. There, Mu Qi meets the passionate Pei Duo (Maggie Jiang), a math teacher who has been coaching the soccer team but sorely needs help whipping the group of misfits into shape. When Mu Qi and Pei Duo can’t agree on their philosophy for coaching the team, is there any hope of turning the losing team around and making it to the annual championships? “Go! Goal! Fighting!” is a 2016 Chinese drama series directed by Li Guo Li.

Go! Goal! Fighting!

The Goalkeepers

A budding young female volleyball player named Kang Se Ra (Hwang Seun Eon) has an unfortunate incident, resulting in a sudden slump in form that she cannot seem to shake off.

As her woes continue, she ends up coaching a struggling men’s high school volleyball team where Hwang Jae Woong (Song Jae Rim) is the star player.

Despite his skills and sporting prowess, the rest of the team is nowhere near his level – and its win record is abysmal.

But when these two volleyball talents meet, sparks fly on and off the court. Despite Hwang Jae Woong’s sarcastic exterior, Kang Se Ra soon discovers an altogether more tender side of this volleyball ace.

With love in the air, could the team’s results improve? And could Kang Se Ra find her groove again – to return to the top of the volleyball game?

“Thumping Spike” is a 2016 South Korean drama series produced by Kim Jin Young.

Thumping Spike

Han Da Woon (Kim So Eun) is a nerdy university student who has never had any experience in love, but is a top 10, straight-A student. All of her crushes have been unrequited, and she is tired of being alone.

At college, she meets a former volleyball player, the super-popular Dong Hye Sung (Lee Won Geun).

After a promising start, Dong Hye Sung’s sporting career has hit an insurmountable hurdle: He has experienced a slump in form that goes on for so long, that he eventually decides to put his volleyball dreams on ice so he can study business.

Sadly for him, as a sporting star, he has never really had to study before – and quickly realizes that he has no idea how to go about it.

The two students soon realize that they may be able to help one another out: Han Da Woon agrees to become Dong Hye Sung’s study coach – if he agrees to become her love coach.

But as they learn together, a mysterious bond begins to form. Could love bloom for this unlikely couple?

“Thumping Spike 2” is a 2016 South Korea drama series directed by Kim Jin Young.

Thumping Spike 2

An ambitious equestrian with dreams of someday winning the Grand Prix Championship, Seo Joo Hee (Kim Tae Hee) has dedicated her life to the sport of horse racing. An accomplished jockey, Joo Hee was well on her way to making her dreams come true until an accident during one of her races put an end to everything. Losing her horse and injuring her arm, Joo Hee is too devastated by the loss to continue racing.

Sinking into an ever-deepening depression, Joo Hee realizes something is going to have to change, and soon. Knowing nothing will change without action, Joo Hee travels to Jeju Island, hoping the time away will help clear her head and heal her heart. She doesn’t hold out much hope for the trip but admits that a vacation might be nice.

While exploring the wonders of Jeju Island, Joo Hee meets Lee Woo Suk (Yang Dong Geun), a champion jockey who understands the pain and heartache that comes with racing. Able to relate to Joo Hee in ways no one else can, Woo Suk helps his new friend find the courage to start over. With Woo Suk by her side, Joo Hee once again dreams of winning the Grand Prix and this time, nothing is going to stand in her way.

An emotional story of broken dreams and starting over, “Grand Prix” is a 2010 sports film directed by Yang Yun Ho.

Grand Prix

Hunan TV

Shen Zheng Yi (Song Zu Er) is a young female student with a passion for ice skating. She dreams of becoming a champion short-track speed skater, but as she has never trained in the sport, she knows she is already behind where she should be if she is ever to become a champion at the highly demanding sport. Her mother is also bitterly opposed to her taking up the sport. So Shen Zheng Yi decides to defy her mother and join an ice skating club anyway. She finds herself under the wing of a promising figure skater named Zhuang Yue (Wang An Yu).

Training with Zhuang Yue is no picnic, and learning how to perform on the short track is both physically and mentally grueling. But as she slowly builds up her confidence, both Shen Zheng Yi and her coach begin to understand that she might just have the grit, determination, and skill she needs to succeed at the highest level. Her passion also inspires Zhuang Yue to overcome his own demons on the ice rink...and the two start to develop deeper emotions for one another. But with a key competition on the horizon and her mother still hoping to thwart Shen Zheng Yi’s sporting plans, will her ice-skating dreams of victory ever come true?

“To Fly with You” is a 2021 Chinese drama series that was directed by Sha Wei Qi.

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