Showing titles in Olympics & Paralympics

An inspirational memoir by a man who became an elite wheelchair athlete after suffering a catastrophic spinal injury and who finally walked again 25 years after his accident. After two years of intense physical therapy following his crippling accident, John Maclean set a new course for himself when his father encouraged him to embrace his new reality and asked: "How far can you go"? Inspired, Maclean became the first paraplegic to complete the Ironman World Championship and swim the English Channel before going on to win a silver medal for rowing at the 2008 Paralympic Games.

One of America's most heralded young divers, David Boudia twice went for Olympic gold, training obsessively and wholeheartedly for success. In his first Olympics, he failed miserably, not winning a single medal. Four years later saw a different story: He mounted the podium twice, winning both gold and bronze. The difference? In the intervening years, he'd changed the focus of his quest from seeking glory for himself to giving glory to God.

The Race to Be Myself is an intimate exploration of Caster Semenya's many identities, told for the first time by Caster herself. In the book, Caster will detail what went on behind the scenes when she found international fame, how it felt to have her body dissected for the whole world to see. Caster will explore how the politics of race, gender, and sexuality play out at the highest levels of competitive sports and why she is determined to continue the fight for her and others right to run free.

Autobiography of Hall of Fame basketball star Clyde Drexler, one of basketball history's most dynamic players. Through his fifteen-year career as an NBA player, Clyde Drexler played with elegance and flair, leadership and poise, integrity and an ability to come through in the clutch. He led the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Finals twice and helped the Houston Rockets win the NBA championship in 1995. A ten-time All-Star, a member of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team, and now a member of basketball’s Hall of Fame, Drexler reached the top of his profession without revealing many of his inner thoughts on himself or the game.

Legacy of the Mat is a collection of stories from the Athletic and Coaching careers of twin brothers Jim and Dave Hazewinkel, two-time Olympic wrestlers. For years they have shared these stories with family and friends, and now they share them with you. Listen to the inspiring stories of these athletes as they smuggle Bibles across the Iron Curtain, coach the West Point Cadets, and witness the 1972 Munich Massacre.

In 1968, perhaps the finest US Olympic men’s track-and-field team ever stirred the world in unprecedented ways, among them the victory stand black rights protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos in Mexico City. But in competition no single athlete mirrored the free-thinking 1960s better than Dick Fosbury, a failed prep high jumper who invented an offbeat style that ultimately won him a gold medal and revolutionized the event. No jumpers today use any other style than his.

Das Gesicht des IOC ist ein Deutscher. Seine Geschichte und die des immer wieder kriminellen IOC laufen seit Jahrzehnten parallel. Hier wird sie erstmals erzählt. Thomas Bach ist der Mann arabischer Scheichs und chinesischer Staatskommunisten, und vor allem: der Olygarch Putins. Dieser investigative Report verwebt die Stränge von Sport, Politik, Geld und Propaganda. Es ist eine Reise durch mehr als 40 Jahre IOC, die in der Wahl Bachs und dessen Russland-freundlicher Politik mündet.

Norwich, a charming Vermont town of roughly 3,000 residents, has sent an athlete to almost every Winter Olympics for the past 30 years - and three times that athlete has returned with a medal. How does Norwich do it? To answer this question, New York Times reporter Karen Crouse moved to Vermont, immersing herself in the lives of Norwich Olympians past and present. There she discovered a culture that's the opposite of the hypercompetitive schoolyard of today's tiger moms and eagle dads.

Jurgen Grobler’s Olympic coaching career is one of legend, yet the man himself has remained resolutely out of the spotlight. Over the last 20 years he has masterminded British Rowing’s incomparable success. And when the difference between gold and silver can mean mere fractions of a second, Jurgen Grobler has consistently delivered Olympic gold through various boat classes and with an ever-changing group of athletes.

In this compelling new book, relying on original reporting from the most dangerous corners of Rio to the halls of power in Washington, DC, Dave Zirin examines how sports and politics are colliding in remarkable fashion in Brazil, opening up an international conversation on the culture, economics, and politics of sports.

One of the top storylines from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was the brigade of bandits from Australia throwing down at the freestyle park for the inaugural action-sports events—in particular the young gun from Logan City, Queensland, who took the gold medal off the table before his competitors knew what had happened. But there's been nothing easy about Logan's ascent to the top. A testament to dedication and self-discipline, artistry and courage, Logan Martin has set the bar for what it means to be an international extreme sports athlete.

The inspiring, unlikely story of the American, Canadian, South Korean, and even North Korean women who joined together to form Korea’s first Olympic ice hockey team.

Marty Nothstein, one of the greatest cyclists of all time, arrived at the 1996 Olympic Games a heavy favorite. In the match sprint at the Atlanta Olympics, an event akin to prizefighting on a bicycle, he raced around a banked, oval track. Nothstein lost by a hair's width on the finish line and vowed to win the gold at the next Olympics, saying, "I didn't come here for a silver medal."

In ancient Greece and across the Mediterranean, kingdoms strive for dominance. The great powers of Carthage and Egypt look on with avarice as the might of the Greeks is spent warring between themselves, oblivious to external dangers. Year in and year out, the people suffer at the hands of their rulers and the famine and pestilence that comes with conflict. The great rulers of the day are themselves helpless to end this cycle of destruction. While life on the battlefield is cheap, the slave trade flourishes through the years of interminable battle and death.

Three decades later, the "Miracle on Ice" still captures imaginations around the world and causes American hearts to swell with pride. This is the thrilling true story of how a ragtag team of collegiate and amateur athletes united in the shadow of the Cold War to defeat the seemingly invincible Soviet ice hockey team at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Eager to celebrate its history, and display its athletic potential, the United States hosted the nation’s first Olympic games in 1904 St. Louis. But within a few years, the publication of Coubertin’s memoirs turned the praised Olympics into the failed Olympics. America’s First Olympics corrects common misconceptions that began with Coubertin’s memoirs, and presents a fresh view of the 1904 games, which featured first-time African American Olympians, an eccentric and controversial marathon, and documentation by pioneering photojournalist Jessie Tarbox Beals.

Duff Gibson has spent the better part of three decades in a hotbed of Olympic sport. Despite its mischaracterization in popular culture, the mental side of sport is perhaps the most significant aspect, and what very often makes the difference between success and failure, in particular at the highest level. The Tao of Sport explores the commonality amongst elite performers relating to purpose, passion, and growth, as a means to achieving high performance, or as a means to an end in itself.

Emil Zátopek won five Olympic medals, set 18 world records and went undefeated over 10,000 metres for six years. He redefined the boundaries of endurance, but his toughness was matched by a spirit of friendship and a joie de vivre that transcended the darkest days of the Cold War. His triumphs put his country on the map, yet when Soviet tanks moved in to crush Czechoslovakia's new freedoms in 1968, Zátopek paid a heavy price for his defence of 'socialism with a human face'. Rehabilitated two decades later, the world had all but forgotten him.

There was no iconic Paul Henderson moment, nor a Sidney Crosby golden goal, but Canada's 5-2 victory against the rival United States in the men's 2002 Olympic gold medal game wiped out 50 years of frustration for the nation that invented ice hockey.

A concise guide to the mysterious world of safe whip cracking.