Riveting New Documentary Revisits 1980’s “Miracle on Ice”

With a little more than a week until the opening ceremony of Milano Cortina 2026, we’ve all got the Olympics on our minds. The Winter Games bring together some of the world’s best athletes for events such as figure skating, alpine skiing, speed skating, and ice hockey. Many prepare their entire lives for these games and hope to bring home a medal for themselves and their country. The 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, brought us one of the biggest moments in American Olympic History. The United States took on the heavily favored Soviet Union and won in an incredible upset. A new documentary, Miracle: The Boys of ’80, recalls the incredible run and the men’s unbelievable Olympic gold medal win.

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Miracle: The Boys of ’80 director Max Gershberg shared his excitement for the new Olympic film with Fox News Digital.

“This is one of those indelible moments, indelible stories that it feels like if you could bring it back to life and reframe it in a fresh way, it would have resonance no matter when you do it,” he said.

Max explained that the story was an Olympic miracle not only because of the Americans’ gold medal win. It also transcended the political climate of the time. Young people may not realize that the United States and the Soviet Union were deeply embroiled in the Cold War. Tensions were high for everyone involved.

“I don’t think it’s meant to be overtly political, but I think there’s real power in a moment like this that was so transcendent and unifying for a country. Whether you were a hockey fan or not, whoever you were, whatever your background, whatever region of the country you were from, this was a moment when the country was really downtrodden, and they needed something, and I think there’s real power in that,” Max added.

Co-director Jake Rogal added that it’s interesting to look back at the time and how differently we consume media now. There was no social media or YouTube. Families across the country gathered around the TV to watch it together.

“Back then, this was one moment that everyone was watching. Everyone was rallying around. So, I think it’s important to show people what that was like and what it’s like to kind of come together and have that one moment. Knowing where America was at the time, it’s important to understand it needed this moment. This moment was important to everybody, whether you worked in construction or whether you worked in finance, this was something everyone was rallying around. And I think it’s important to understand where the country was in order to emphasize that point,” Jake said.

Miracle: The Boys of ’80 drops on Netflix January 30.

This story’s featured image is by Steve Powell /Getty Images