My Olympic Journey


Book Description

Chronicling the stories of fifty of India's leading Olympians for the first time ever in one comprehensive edition, Digvijay Singh Deo and Amit Bose bring you the Games through the eyes of some of the best sportspersons in the country. These first-person accounts of Olympic medalists from 1948 till 2012, such as Balbir Singh, Leander Paes, Karnam Malleswari, Abhinav Bindra and Sushil Kumar, and pioneers like Milkha Singh, P.T. Usha, Anjali Bhagwat, reveal their hopes, superstitions, grit and challenges. Their experiences and interactions are sure to make you laugh, shed a tear and, most importantly, open your eyes to the struggles they had to endure to reach the Olympics. These personal stories give a close-up view of what it means to represent India at the most prestigious sporting event in the world, making you a part of the soaring glory and shattering disappointment that only an Olympic Games can deliver. With photos from the personal archives of each athlete, this is a front-row seat to the privileged Olympic experience.




Riding Free


Book Description

'My heart was pounding ... yet I was sitting still! This was the most exciting moment in my life and the culmination of my boyhood dream. I was where thousands of eventing riders around the world had dreamt of being-the Olympics.' This is the story of a young boy with an impossible dream - competing at the Olympics. From the age of four, Imtiaz Anees took to horse-riding like fish to water. It soon became a passion, one that continued through his life, beginning with his first competitive win at the age of six, eventually winning multiple equestrian events both nationally and internationally. Imtiaz is the only Indian rider to complete an equestrian three-day event at the Olympics, in Sydney in 2000, at the age of thirty, in an elite sport long associated with royalty and wealth and primarily the army in India. In Riding Free, Imtiaz re-traces the major milestones of his riveting twenty-year-long journey. The stories he tells are heartfelt, emotional and inspirational for the next generation of dreamers-a way to 'give back', in small measure, the enormous goodwill and help he received from all kinds of people in his Olympics journey. Behind Imtiaz's success are also the struggles and setbacks that pushed him to work harder and achieve peak performance. In a sport where the result depends on both man and animal, the deep bond Imtiaz shares with his horses will leave animal lovers spellbound. Here is a story that will inspire every athlete to 'never give in'.




But Now I See


Book Description

One of the top bobsledders in the world and leader of the four-man American team, Steven Holcomb had finished sixth in the 2006 Olympics and medaled in nearly every competition he entered. He was considered a strong gold contender for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Talented, aggressive, and fearless, he was at the top of his game. But Steven Holcomb had a dangerous secret. Steven Holcomb was going blind. In the prime of his athletic career, he was diagnosed with keratoconus—a degenerative disease affecting 1 in 1,000 and leaving 1 in 4 totally blind without a cornea transplant. In the world of competitive sports, it was a dream killer. Not a sport for the timid, bobsledding speeds approach 100 miles per hour through a series of hairpin turns. Serious injuries—even deaths—can result. But Holcomb kept his secret from his coach, sled mates, and the public for months and continued to drive the legendary sled The Night Train. When he finally told his coach, Holcomb was led to a revolutionary treatment, later named the Holcomb C3-R. With his sight restored to 20/20, Holcomb became the first American in 50 years to win the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation World Championship, and the first American bobsledder since 1948 to win the Olympic gold medal. With a foreword by Geoff Bodine, NASCAR champion and founder of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, But Now I See is the intimate portrait of a man's pursuit of a dream, laced with humility and the faith to find a way when all seems hopeless. It's about knowing anything is possible and the gift of a second chance.




Running for My Life


Book Description

Offers the true story of a Sudanese boy who, through unyielding faith, overcame a wartorn nation to become an American citizen and an Olympic contender.




Making Waves


Book Description

In her extraordinary swimming career, Shirley Babashoff set thirty-nine national records and eleven world records. Prior to the 1990s, she was the most successful U.S. female Olympian and, in her prime, was widely considered to be the greatest female swimmer in the world. Heading into the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Babashoff was pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and followed closely by the media. Hopes were high that she would become “the female Mark Spitz.” All of that changed once Babashoff questioned the shocking masculinity of the swimmers on the East German women’s team. Once celebrated as America’s golden girl, Babashoff was accused of poor sportsmanship and vilified by the press with a new nickname: “Surly Shirley.” Making Waves displays the remarkable strength and resilience that made Babashoff such a dynamic champion. From her difficult childhood and beginnings as a determined young athlete growing up in Southern California in the 1960s, through her triumphs as the greatest female amateur swimmer in the world, Babashoff tells her story in the same unflinching manner that made her both the most dominant female swimmer of her time and one of the most controversial athletes in Olympic history.




A Shot at History


Book Description

Abhinav Bindra's journey to become the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold is an example of a single-minded quest for perfection. Shattered by his failure at the 2004 Athens Olympics, he changed as a shooter: he became an athlete bent on redemp




My Olympic Life


Book Description

The Life Story of Anita L. DeFrantz




My Olympic Story


Book Description

Jeff Farrell was the fastest swimmer in the world in 1960. Six days before the Olympic trials, he underwent an emergency appendectomy. The surgeon said he could not swim again for six weeks. What happened is part of Olympic legend, an unforgettable story of sportsmanship and courage.




Go, Gwen, Go


Book Description

Narrated in alternating voices by mother Nancy and sister Elizabeth, Go, Gwen, Go is an inspiring story about Olympian Gwen Jorgensen and her family. This memoir introduces a young woman of modest athletic achievements who uses desire and discipline to attain the ultimate in sport—the Olympic Gold. You will enter the secret world of Olympic training, professional coaching, international travel, sponsor funding, anti-doping requirements, athlete nutrition, and sports physiotherapy. You will be granted an inside look at the personal life of a professional triathlete, complete with family crises and holiday celebrations. During her triathlon career, Gwen became the first American woman to win a World Triathlon Series event, the first person in history to win 12 consecutive races on the ITU circuit, and the first American triathlete, man or woman, to win an Olympic Gold medal. In this inspiring story, Gwen Jorgensen and her family grow together, from average to Olympian.




American Steele


Book Description

American Steele is the humorous memoir of an impossible journey taken from a small-town boy with an inappropriate sense of humor all the way to the Olympics and an end to a 46-year American medal drought. The unlikely journey continues into the world of college coaching, where our hero mentors another boy with humble beginnings to become a two-time Olympic champion and world record holder. On July 28, 2017 I was surprised to wake up in the ICU of our local Iowa hospital. I had suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke. Dan Steele, healthy and successful college track and field coach was faced with the daunting challenge of relearning to walk and talk. Cheating death once again, I had to find meaning in my life. I'm just a regular guy who never accepted anything was just good enough for me. I aspired to unreasonable heights, failing as often as succeeding. This is my story, told from my hospital bed.