Greenspan dies

Bud Greenspan, the documentary filmmaker who chronicled the Olympic Games in a style both soaring and poignant, has died in New York at the age of 84, his companion Nancy Beffa said.

Beffa said Greenspan died on Saturday from complications of Parkinson's disease.

Greenspan's films focused unashamedly on the Olympics' most triumphant moments.

"I spend my time on about the 99 percent of what's good about the Olympics and most people spend 100 percent of their time on the one percent that's negative," he said in an interview with ESPN.com almost 10 years ago.

"I've been criticized for seeing things through rose-colored glasses, but the percentages are with me."

While Greenspan acknowledged issues such as corruption and commercialism that sometimes tarnished the Olympic movement, he never lost his admiration for Olympians.

NEW YORK, AFP