Ralph Doubell


Book Description

Ralph Doubell should be one of Australia's best known Olympic heroes. In the 800 metres at Mexico City in 1968, he produced arguably the finest run in Australian Olympic history, but his achievement never received the plaudits it deserved. Finally, author Michael Sharp has written a compelling biography of the last of the three Australian male track athletes - after Edwin Flack and Herb Elliott - to win Olympic gold.




What Makes A Champion!: Over Fifty Extraordinary Individuals Share Their Insights


Book Description

What drives great and successful individuals — be they athletes, artists, or scientists — or businesses, to achieve the extraordinary?Over fifty champions from all walks of life, brought together by Allan Snyder, draw on their experiences to explore the secrets of success in this inspiring, revealing and thought-provoking book.Hear from the authors what made a McDonalds' branch become the most successful in the world; how a cottage business is catapulted into a world brand; how a visual artist's work crosses almost every medium imaginable; how an Ernst and Young setup becomes a top-notch employer; or why many geniuses or brilliant individuals never become champions, while many ‘ordinary’ individuals do; why many people don't know about their talent; what constitutes a champion outcome; and the neurological explanation for championship.Straddling academia and practitioners in all fields — government, entertainment, sports, business, arts, education, medicine, media — the authors include business CEOs, sports managers, entertainment gurus and best-selling authors.Contributing authors include: Nelson Mandela, Edmund Hillary, Corazon Aquino, John Eales, Poppy King, Gustav Nossal, Baz Luhrmann, Bryce Courtenay, Peter Doherty, George Negus, Herb Elliott, Shane Gould, John Howard, Pat O'Shane, Richard Butler, Leonie Kramer, Anne Summers, Ron Clarke, Di Morrissey, Phillip Adams, and Harry M Miller.




Bowerman and the Men of Oregon


Book Description

No man has affected more runners in more ways than Bill Bowerman. During his 24-year tenure as track coach at the University of Oregon, he won four national team titles and his athletes set 13 world and 22 American records. He also ignited the jogging boom, invented the waffle-sole running shoe that helped establish Nike, and coached the US track and field team at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games With the full cooperation of the Bowerman family and Nike, plus years of taped interviews with friends, relatives, students, and competitors, two-time Olympic marathoner Kenny Moore--himself one of Bowerman's champion athletes--brilliantly re-creates the legendary track coach's life.




The Compendium


Book Description

The only complete statistics of Australia's participation in the Olympic Games from 1896 to 2002. Contains updated and never-before published statistics such as- A complete list of the results for every Australian competitor at every Olympic Games up to Athens in 2004Australia's medal tally from every Olympics Fascinating Olympic factsFamily relationships between every Australian competitor (e.g. brothers/sisters or multiple generations who have competed) Published to be the perfect companion to Harry Gordon's new book on the Sydney Olympics, The Time of our Lives(UQP, October 03). This is an essential handbook to have at your side when watching the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.




The Peter Norman Story


Book Description

Who is Peter Norman? He's the greatest Australian hero you don't know. Peter Norman is the 'forgotten man' in one of the most powerful and influential photos of all time. Peter is in the photo because he won Australia a silver medal at the 1968 Mexico Olympics after running the 200 metres in 20.06 seconds. In 2018, 50 years on, it is still the Australian record. But Peter Norman is a hero to millions today not for the race or the record, but for what he did next. Hearing of US medallists John Carlos and Tommie Smith's plans to protest against inequality on the dais, Peter pinned an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge on his green and gold tracksuit and said: 'I'll stand with you.' That act of solidarity cost Peter Norman everything. All three men were cast into exile, their lives sent spiralling. But it secured a unique friendship - and a legend that, in its 50th anniversary, is more powerful than ever. This is the extraordinary story of the man behind the photo and a moment that changed the world. It's a strange odyssey of a working-class, Salvation Army-raised boy from Melbourne who became a global icon for equality and courage, yet who remained an enigma to even those closest to him. It's a story about taking a stand and inspiring people everywhere to stand with you. The story of a unique hero who has gone unsung for too long. The Peter Norman Story.




The Time of Our Lives


Book Description

The only book on the Sydney Olympics with the official sanction of the AOC. Jounalist Harry Gordon gives the inside story of the Australian Olympic Games and reveals previously unpublished, behind- the-scenes stories about the preparation for the Olympic Games. Features foreword by Cathy Freeman, Reflections by Ian Thorpe.




The Track in the Forest


Book Description

The 1968 US men's Olympic track and field team won 12 gold medals and set six world records at the Mexico City Games, one of the most dominant performances in Olympic history. The team featured such legends as Tommie Smith, Bob Beamon, Al Oerter, and Dick Fosbury. Fifty years later, the team is mostly remembered for embodying the tumultuous social and racial climate of 1968. The Black Power protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the victory stand in Mexico City remains one of the most enduring images of the 1960s. Less known is the role that a 400-meter track carved out of the Eldorado National Forest above Lake Tahoe played in molding that juggernaut. To acclimate US athletes for the 7,300-foot elevation of Mexico City, the US Olympic Committee held a two-month training camp and final Olympic selection meet for the ages at Echo Summit near the California-Nevada border. Never has a sporting event of such consequence been held in such an ethereal setting. On a track in which hundreds of trees were left standing on the infield to minimize the environmental impact, four world records fell—more than have been set at any US meet since (including the 1984 and 1996 Olympics). But the road to Echo Summit was tortuous—the Vietnam War was raging, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, and a group of athletes based out of San Jose State had been threatening to boycott the Mexico City Games to protest racial injustice. Informed by dozens of interviews by longtime sports journalist and track enthusiast Bob Burns, this is the story of how in one of the most divisive years in American history, a California mountaintop provided an incomparable group of Americans shelter from the storm.




XIX Olympiad


Book Description

The year 1968 is commonly remembered for the massive social and political upheaval occurring around the world at the time, but it was also the year of the Olympic Games of Mexico City. XIX Olympiad, the seventeenth volume in The American Century series, tells the story of one of the most exciting and controversial Olympics of the modern era. In addition to being the first Olympics held in Latin America, the Mexico Games were also held at high altitude, a factor that likely contributed to the many record-breaking performances. Among these was Bob Beamon's incredible gold-medal-winning 8.9-metre long jump, a record that would stand for 23 years, and Al Oerter's fourth consecutive gold medal in discus, a first for a track athlete. In a reflection of the times, the book tells the story of American sprinters Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) who created the iconic image of the Mexico Games when they famously raised their gloved fists in a black power salute on the medal podium.The second part the book focuses on the 1972 Winter Games of Sapporo, Japan. Star athletes of Sapporo are profiled, like Galina Kulakova of the USSR, who won three golds in cross-country skiing, and Ard Schenk of Holland, who matched that feat in speed skating. It also tells the story of three Japanese ski-jumpers who became national heroes after sweeping the 70-metre event. Juan Antonio Samaranch, former President of the International Olympic Committee, called The Olympic Century, "e;The most comprehensive history of the Olympic games ever published"e;.




The Positive Power of Practicing Persistence


Book Description

Have you ever started a project and never finished? Have you ever tackled a challenge only to give up halfway through? Have you ever lost your enthusiasm or confidence midstream? Of course that happens to everyone. The Positive Power of Practicing Persistence provides a powerful jump-start to get us moving again when we get stalled. Readers will walk away with a potent vaccination of never-give-up kind of persistence to employ in every facet of their personal and professional lives. The book opens with an inspiring account of the authors true life experience of leaving his homeland in India to migrate to a new country and culture. It is an inspiring diary of perseverance and determination to overcome all obstacles and barriers to achieve success in a challenging environment. In The Positive Power of Practicing Persistence, the author has selected fifteen inspiring stories of remarkable individuals who refused to concede their dreams. While some are well-known, others are relatively unknown. Inventors and entertainers, presidents and prisoners, saints and prophetsall are showcased in the book to illustrate that persistence can be applied by any person, anywhere and in any set of circumstances. Personal stories of Thomas Edison, Mother Theresa, Walt Disney, Nelson Mandela, Roger Barrister, J. K. Rowling, and Mahatma Gandhi are included. A couple of lighter stories featuring The Tortoise and the Hare and The Little Engine That Could add another layer of assurance that persistence wins on all levels. The final third of the book deals with the practical how-to-do-it methods to cultivate a greater resolve in our lives. These valuable how-to chapters engage readers in immediate action steps in how to persist in winning that dream job, getting the sale, achieving education goals, eliminating debt, and that all-elusive goal that plagues us allhow to persist in losing weight and getting fit! Other how-to chapters feature the art of teaching persistence to your children. Sprinkled through each chapter are quotes to motivate and inspire readers in their struggle to persist. Each chapter concludes with a key summary statement. The Positive Power of Practicing Persistence is a sure-fire way to reignite that fire within each of us to achieve everything we were designed to do.




Altitude Training and Athletic Performance


Book Description

Addresses the physiology of altitude training, limitations to competing and training at altitude, and a variety of other topics related to the effect of altitude training on athletic performance.