With the UK getting ready for that big event that’s happening in London in a couple of weeks, TV has been taken over by documentaries on sport. So, while sitting on your sofa you can get inspired to go out and train. Here’s some of the pics from the last week alone – catch them while they’re still on iPlayer.

BBC4’s Born to Run: The Secrets of Kenyan Athletics looks at the role of Irish missionaries in securing Kenya’s dominance in world athletics. Former Irish athlete and 5,000m world champion Eamonn Coghlan travels to Kenya to meet Brother Colm O’Connell, a modest priest who played a major role in fostering Kenyan distance running and who is now considered one of the world’s top athletics coaches.

Usain Bolt is the focus of two programmes. The matter-of-factly titled Can Anyone Beat Bolt? looks at the five men aiming to beat him: Yohan Blake, the current world champion; Asafa Powell, the last man to hold the world record before Bolt; Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin, who lead the American charge; and Europe’s best hope, the Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre. In light of Bolt’s recent defeat, maybe it should have been clearer in it’s title ‘Can Anyone Beat Bolt for the Olympic Medal?’ Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Alive meanwhile is an ‘up close and personal’ film that follows him over the past 12 months as he prepares for the biggest race of his life

Remember the 1988 Olympics? The Race that Shocked the World will remind you if you don’t It looks at the legacy of the men’s 100-metre final when gold medallist Ben Johnson tested positive for anabolic steroids. For the first time ever, the eight athletes who ran in that infamous race (including Linford) tell their story.

Victoria Pendleton is the focus of a documentary that offers a rare insight into the way an otherwise ordinary life has been consumed by the sacrifice and intensity required to win an Olympic event. In Victoria Pendleton: Cycling’s Golden Girl the Olympic champion is honest and open on camera as she takes us on her journey towards London 2012.