Upamanyu Biswas
Created by Jan Matheu, Laia Foguet, and Ibai Abad, Netflix’s ‘Olympo‘ follows a group of Spain’s promising athletes at the HPC Pyrenees, a high-performance sports center, where students are molded through a rigorous regime that pushes them to the extreme. The show is mainly told through the eyes of Amaia, the captain of the artistic swimming team whose life is turned upside down when her best friend Nuria has a tragic mishap after she manages to outstrip Amaia for the first time. Subsequently, Amaia begins to notice a larger mystery at play within the institute, all stemming from desperation within the athletes to do whatever is necessary to win, even if it means crossing some lines. To that end, the teen sports drama series highlights the ruthless side of elite athletics, where the finest margins define victory and defeat.
Olympo Explores the Demands of High-End Sports Through a Dark Conspiracy
‘Olympo’ is a work of fiction brought to life from a script devised by Ibai Abad, Laia Foguet, and Jan Matheu. The show primarily delves into the rigors of trying to make it to the biggest stage as an athlete, a combination that breeds unhealthy competition and jealousy within a toxic environment. While it is not based on any specific real-life story, the Netflix project seemingly takes loose cues from various incidents of doping within the sports industry, dramatizing them through a teen drama lens while also showcasing how it generates a fearful environment of an unfair playing field for those competing at the highest level. Although this forms the basis for the central mystery, the show also explores the reasons behind why young, impressionable athletes take such desperate measures, leading them down a dark and unforgiving path.
In 2011, researchers at the University Rennes 2 conducted a study linking three different layers of societal influences, such as historical, legal, and psychosocial factors, with a direct or indirect impact on how young athletes in France and Spain turn to doping. As per the report, things like media coverage, economic stresses, pressure to perform, peer encouragement, a desire for body enhancement, and emulating idolized athletes, among many others, play a massive role in pushing younger sportspeople towards a path of drug use. Even though the Netflix show may have an exaggerated tone, a variety of these listed factors are examined in one way or another, showcasing how doping can be a huge concern and even lead to potentially life-altering health risks. Thus, it covers topics that are grounded in reality, even if it might be done through an original tale.
Olympo Centers on the Desperate Drive to be First at Any Cost
While performance enhancement drugs (PED) are an integral layer of ‘Olympo,’ it is essentially indicative of a larger question at play throughout the series: How far is one willing to go to achieve victory? This central query drives much of the narrative, exacerbated further because of the youthful nature of the central characters within the show. People like Amaia, Zoe, Cristian, and Roque are each fighting for a berth at the top spot, sacrificing their adolescent life for one filled with envy, coercion, and in-fighting. Meanwhile, all around them, the adults encourage an unreasonably demanding culture within the halls of the HPC Pyrenees, paving the way for an institutionalized environment brimming with corruption. In many ways, it is a reflection of the phrase “survival of the fittest.”
Outside the social dynamics of the show, cast members such as Clara Galle, who plays Amaia, also acknowledged doing physical fitness work and athletic training to embody their characters in an authentic fashion. She regularly practiced artistic swimming (a sport her character excels at) in the morning while other women at the gym were busy with their aqua-gym routines. She also underwent physical fitness training, professing a love for gaining muscle and weight for her role as Amaia, which further increases the show’s credibility for depicting young athletes at their physical prime. To that end, ‘Olympo’ embraces several ins and outs of the sports industry, layering its fictional narrative with real-world aspects that help it feel more immersive.
Read More: Olympo Season 2: What to Expect?
