Dr. Steven Ungerleider was an accomplished author, sports psychologist, and advocate for sport. He wrote several books on Olympic topics, including the best-selling Faust’s Gold: Inside the East German Doping Machine which examined the 30-year doping activities of the late East German regime.
Dr. Ungerleider was a founding trustee of the Foundation for Global Sports Development, where he served as Vice-President for the Executive Board. During his tenure, the Foundation developed initiatives that support access to safe sport for youth, provide scholarships for higher education, and honor athletes who help make the world a better place.
He co-founded the Foundation’s non-profit production arm, Sidewinder Films, and received an Emmy nomination for his research on the 2016 documentary short Munich ’72 and Beyond. His film, At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal, debuted at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, aired on HBO, and was nominated for two Emmy awards: Best Documentary and Outstanding Investigative Documentary. It received a Television Academy Honor, the prestigious award that celebrates “television programming that inspires, informs, motivates and has the power to change lives.” Waterman, his film about Duke Kahanamoku, premiered at the 2021 Hawaiian International Film Festival and went on to screen at 36 more festivals. It was broadcast on PBS’ American Masters in May 2022 and was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Historical Documentary category in July 2023.
Steven was a producer of End Game, which received an Oscar nomination for “Best Documentary Short Subject” in 2019.
Dr. Ungerleider also served on the Education and Ethics Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency and the National Advisory Panel of the American Psychological Association. In 2009, he co-founded the Texas Program in Sports and Media (TPSM) at the University of Texas, Austin.
