There have been two great revolutions in television sports coverage. The obvious one has been ongoing and technological: slo-mo, instant replays, superimpositions, inventive camera angles, all sorts of computerization. Such innovations have made the television experience better — or at least a lot more informative — than actually being there. Oddly enough, for all their up-to-the-tech-minute snazziness, some of these techniques originated more than 75 years ago, with Leni Riefenstahl’s 1938 documentary, “Olympia,” about the Berlin Olympics.
That revolution centers on presentation and performance. The other one is so fundamental that it’s completely taken for granted. It centers on personality. Athletic competition requires athletes, and athletes are people. What could be more obvious than that? Well, it took Roone Arledge, of ABC Sports, to act on the obviousness and make it integral to sportscasting. For the 1972 Olympics, Arledge commissioned a series of short profiles of Olympians to be inserted into coverage of the Munich Games. Thus was introduced the phrase “up close and personal,” and sports on television has never been the same.
An extended example of up close and personal debuted on Netflix Wednesday. The documentary series “Simone Biles Rising” shows the champion gymnast at practice, in competition, at home — reflecting as well as rising. Biles, 27, will be competing at the Paris Olympics. The opening ceremony is July 26. Biles has four gold medals and a bronze from the Rio Games, and a bronze and silver from Tokyo.
The series takes its title from Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.” Inspired by the poem, Biles has “And still I rise” tattooed on her collarbone. Anyone who’s seen her vault knows that that verb has literal as well as metaphorical meaning.
Only two of the series’ four 45-minute episodes are currently streaming. The other two arrive this fall. Expect them to include footage from Paris, including (let’s hope) multiple visits to the medal stand.
Mark Feeney can be reached at mark.feeney@globe.com.