Greg Rutherford: Olympic legend bids for more golden glory in exclusive discovery+ documentary

One man’s bid for sporting immortality is on the line as Greg Rutherford, Team GB star from London 2012, looks to become only the second man in history to win gold at an Olympic Summer and Winter Games – and discovery+, the home of real-life entertainment, will be there every step of the way.

The highs, the lows, the mishaps and full range of emotions will be captured in this exclusive discovery+ fly-on-the-wall documentary as Rutherford and his bobsleigh team-mates – which include an acting Grenadier Guardsman – go gunning for glory in Beijing.

Scott Young, Senior Vice President, Content and Production at Discovery Sports, said: “Greg is an Olympic gold medallist, passionate about sport, and has competed at the highest level for his country. Most recently he’s made the transition to broadcasting. Having worked closely with Greg in Tokyo and spoken to him at length since, it’s clear he is someone who still retains his competitive instinct and harbours ambitions of one final crack at an Olympic Games, albeit the Winter Games. Greg genuinely lives and breathes the Olympic values and it’s clear he wouldn’t entertain the idea of competing in Beijing if he didn’t believe he could be successful in achieving his goals.

“I was so impressed with his desire to succeed in this mission that we simply had to invest in this story, to partner with Greg and his team to tell this compelling story from the outset. As with any journey of this nature – anything can happen - but this is a story that simply has to be told and I’m genuinely excited for viewers on discovery+ to watch the final program in the lead-up to Games-time in 2022.”

It’s a human story that transcends sport as Greg and his band of assorted hopefuls - Lamin Deen, Joel Fearon, Ben Simons and Toby Olubi - travel across Austria, Germany and Switzerland battling to qualify for the main event in February 2022. Friendships will be tested to the limit with discovery+ capturing every possible challenge they face – juggling training, competition and home life as well as battling funding, facilities, fears and self-doubt as they embark on their unlikeliest of journeys to Beijing.

discovery+ cameras and microphones will go deep inside their voyage, following the team day and night as they tour Europe on a budget, restore their own equipment and fit snow tyres on their own car in order to reach qualifying locations. Viewers will feel the speed, adventure and unbreakable bond between the team as they chase their sporting dreams.

It’s a story eerily similar to that of the incredible Jamaican bobsleigh team that caught the imagination of the world as they made an unlikely attempt to compete at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, depicted so brilliantly in the blockbuster 1993 film Cool Runnings.

Rutherford’s story has already taken a dramatic twist, with the 35-year-old falling victim to a shoulder injury, ruling him out of the IBSF Bobsleigh World Cup series until at least the meeting in Altenberg, Germany on 18 December.

Qualification for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing requires Rutherford and his team to finish in the top 12 in at least three of the seven World Cup series events they will be competing in from November 2021 to January 2022.

Greg Rutherford said: "Winter sports have always been a really important part of my life and I love anything that’s got an edge of danger. So far, I’ve also loved coming into a team sport - I have an opportunity to share these incredible moments with a team and that’s a really big thing for me. I think one of the most challenging things is getting my body going again - I’ve effectively reverted back to how I was when I was jumping, I train most days and I’m conscious what I’m putting in my body again.

"Good news and bad news – it looks like I’ve fractured my shoulder preparing. I’m going to need an injection before each competition to take the edge of the fact there’s effectively a broken bone in my shoulder but speaking to the doctor, it’s not the end of the world. I need to let it rest and recover, build the training back up, head back out to the slopes and then start sliding down those incredible tracks again as soon as possible. Before I know it, the Olympics will have been and gone again but hopefully, we will have had a successful time and will look back with fond memories of this incredible journey which has been trying to make an Olympic bobsleigh team.”"

Only one athlete, American Eddie Eagan, has won gold at both an Olympic Summer and Winter Games, having claimed victory as a light-heavyweight boxer in Antwerp in 1920 before claiming victory in the four-man bobsleigh at Lake Placid in 1932.