Showing titles in Olympics & Paralympics

The Balance is coach Aimee Boorman’s inside account of the growth of a transcendent athlete and the tumultuous events—from the dictatorial coaching of Martha Karolyi to the sexual abuse by Larry Nassar—that upended the lives of many girls, including Biles. Simone Biles is one of the greatest athletes of all time. She’s won six all-around world championships and eleven Olympic medals (seven gold).

From legendary Olympic gold medalist Dara Torres comes a motivational, inspirational memoir about staying fit, aging gracefully, and pursuing your dreams. Dara Torres captured the hearts and minds of Americans of all ages when she launched her Olympic comeback as a new mother at the age of...

In the 1930s, as the world hurtled towards terrible global conflict, speed was all the rage. It was described by Aldous Huxley as 'the one genuinely modern pleasure', and one of the fastest and most thrilling ways to attain it was through the new sport of bobsledding. Exotic, exciting and above...

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.

New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Abrams takes a deep dive into the lives and careers of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, using their entangled paths as a lens to view the myriad facets of the player empowerment era. It's one of the greatest “what ifs” in sports...

On the fortieth anniversary of the historic ""Miracle on Ice,"" Mike Eruzione—the captain of the 1980 U.S Men’s Olympic Hockey Team, who scored the winning goal—recounts his amazing career on ice, the legendary upset against the Soviets, and winning the gold medal. It is the greatest...

Power from the Podium: The Story of Black Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos, is a wonderfully written story of two Olympic icons whose silent Black Power protest at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico reverberated worldwide. From the awards podium during the playing of the American National Anthem, Tommie and John, heads bowed with their black-gloved fists raised in the Black Power symbol, signified one of the most powerful protests in sports history that called attention to Black social justice and racial inequality.

The inspirational memoir from Paralympian and disability advocate Anne Wafula Strike, updated for 2024 Left partially paralysed below the rib cage by polio, Anne Wafula Strike was forced to flee her native Kenyan village, moving across the country with her family. After overcoming additional...

"If you're not strong enough to swim fast, you're probably not strong enough to swim 'pretty," said a young Esther Williams to theater impresario Billy Rose. Since the nineteenth century, tensions between beauty and strength, aesthetics and athleticism have both impeded and propelled the careers of female swimmers—none more so than synchronized swimmers, for whom Williams is often considered godmother. In this riveting history—the first of its kind—Vicki Valosik traces a century of aquatic performance, from vaudeville and dime museums to the Olympic arena.

The Olympic Games have become the single greatest festival of a universal and cosmopolitan humanity. Seventeen days of sporting competition watched and followed on every continent and in every country on the planet. Simply, the greatest show on earth. Yet when the modern games were inaugurated...

Growing up in New Jersey as the only African American Muslim at school, Ibtihaj Muhammad always had to find her own way. When she discovered fencing, a sport traditionally reserved for the wealthy, she had to defy expectations and make a place for herself in a sport she grew to love. From...

In this deeply personal memoir in the vein of Andre Agassi's Open and Megan Rapinoe’s One Life, the winningest snowboardcross rider of all time chronicles her career, a story of self-growth that reveals the secret of her resilience and how she overcame crushing early failure to win Olympic...

The #1 New York Times–bestselling story about American Olympic triumph in Nazi Germany, the inspiration for the PBS documentary The Boys of '36, broadcast to coincide with the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 80th anniversary of the boys' gold medal race. For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths...

From the tennis court to the boxing ring, the athletics track to the football pitch, the visibility of women in sport has been gathering pace. Women's competitions are increasingly popular. In Roar Sam takes a deep dive into the experiences of some of sport's most high-profile female athletes -...

Dream big, follow your passion and never give up. Decorated US Olympian and accomplished hockey star Kendall Coyne shares the grit and determination it took to break down barriers and achieve her dreams against tremendous odds, encouraging you to follow your passions and never give up. The world...

In a world where online scrutiny is more intense than ever, Elise’s story massively transcends sport. Having been bullied while growing up in Scotland, Christie first felt the full weight of online public opinion following three separate disqualifications at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Death threats followed amid a torrent of online hate whereby she was accused of having caused a rival South Korean medal hopeful to crash. Christie, aged just 24, retreated into a period of mental health support to assist her through extremely traumatic times.

Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger) is the motto of the International Olympic Committee. After listening to Les Woodland's The Olympics' 50 Craziest Stories the listener might wonder if the motto should be Sillier, Loonier, Crazier.

At age 9, Josh Sundquist was diagnosed with cancer, and by age 10, he'd lost his leg to the illness. But Sundquist never faltered in his dream to ski in the Paralympics, and in 2006 he achieved his goal in Turin, Italy. Just Don't Fall is the remarkable and honest story of Sundquist's determination and grit in the face of long odds and tough choices. 

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.

From her first strokes as a novice, Ginny Gilder found herself in a new world, training with Olympic rowers and participating in the famous Title IX naked protest, which helped define the movement for equality in college sports. Short, asthmatic, and stubborn, Gilder made the team against all odds and for the next 10 years devoted herself to answering a seemingly simple question: how badly do you want to go fast?

Fresh from his triumphant and extraordinary achievement at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Michael Phelps—up from working-class, born-in-the-USA roots—shows us the secrets to his remarkable success—from training to execution. For years the world has followed Michael Phelps’s progress from...

Three people living in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem embark on distinct journeys that converge at "the file"; their efforts to admit Palestine to the Olympics in the early 20th century. Their pivotal roles in history have been purposely omitted from official record, kept secret, or forgotten. Why? Because of the "Nazi Olympics" in 1936 in Berlin. And because of the death in 1972 of eleven Israeli Olympic athletes in the Munich Massacre. This book narrates the previously untold history of a Palestine Olympic Committee recognized before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.  

Con orígenes en la Depresión norteamericana y a pocos años de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Daniel James Brown narra la epopeya del equipo de ocho remeros y su timonel de la Universidad de Washington, y su épica misión de ganar la medalla de oro en 1936 en los Juegos Olímpicos del Berlín de Hitler. El equipo de remo estadounidense que sorprendió al mundo y que transformó este deporte atrajo la atención de millones de personas.

Journalist Matt Majendie brings listeners the whole story from 2012 to 2020, told by the people who were there. You'll hear from Paula Radcliffe and Sebastian Coe on London 2012, the expert German investigator who cracked the case wide open and the athletes who doped. The programme also gained access to the elite Swiss lab racing to finish testing London 2012 samples and spoke to the man who masterminded doping control at the London games.

Tony Volpentest was born without hands and feet, a condition so rare it does not have a name. Doctors said he would never be able to walk without prosthetics or special accommodations. Tony proved them all wrong when he started walking at 15 months old and went on to do everything any other kid could do: ride a bike, play basketball, and learn to write. In high school, he took up the least likely sport for someone without feet - track.

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.

“An indispensable Olympic resource and a lot of pure fun.”––Jack McCallum, author of the New York Times bestseller Dream Team Faster! Higher! Stronger! Stranger! A glorious tapestry of legendary characters, forgotten records, crazy accomplishments, unbelievable feats, wacky contests, and...

This audiobook will take you on a journey along with American fencing from the beginnings in the times of the founding fathers, all the way through the lackluster first decades of American competition in the Olympic Games, and on to today where American fencing stands poised to build on its success and become a major player on the world stage. It’s been a complicated road for the United States, one that’s intertwined with world politics and changing social structures.The American story is one of immigration and tenacity.

The extraordinary story of the small Vermont town that has likely produced more Olympians per capita than any other place in the country, Norwich gives “parents of young athletes a great gift—a glimpse at another way to raise accomplished and joyous competitors” (The Washington Post). In...

For as long as she can remember, Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross's life has been measured in seconds. The fewer, the better. But when the race is over, how do you know what to run towards next? In Chasing Grace, join Sanya as she helps you see your own experiences through God's eyes...

On the eve of the opening of the 30th Olympiad in London this summer, sports activist and writer Mark Perryman presents a sharply critical take on the way the Games have been organized and an imaginative blueprint for how they could be improved. The London Olympics have been promoted as of great benefit for the host city and nation. The organizers insist that the lasting value of the facilities built, the tourism the Games will attract, and the popular participation in sport they will promote, all make the spending of billions of pounds of public money an excellent investment.

Made in America is a detailed, behind-the-scenes look at what Ueberroth and his colleagues encountered on the road to the 1984 games. Despite the international intrigues, terrorist threats, boycotts, and financial obstacles, Ueberroth managed to make the Los Angeles Olympics an unprecedented success—and the standard for future games.

"Athletes first" is a slogan the International Olympic Committee often touts, but the reality is very different, as preeminent Olympics expert Jules Boykoff shows in this book. While the world’s attention is riveted by the triumphs and tribulations on their screens, there is much that goes on behind the scenes that is deeply troubling: athletes are increasingly voicing concerns over physical, mental and sexual abuse, and they are collectively expressing grievances around equity and human rights.

Read by the author. Get a high-octane dose of encouragement from Lolo Jones, three-time Olympian and world champion hurdler and bobsledder. Growing up in a broken home, Lolo learned to shoplift at a young age just to eat at night and sometimes slept on the basement floor of the Salvation Army...

The Olympics are the world’s most prestigious stage for athletic competition. Fans both casual and hardcore tune in religiously every few years to watch as men and women push themselves to the limits of human performance. But what makes a champion? Is it genetics? Hours of training? A psychological advantage? Of all the athletes who dedicate their lives - and bodies - to achieving that perfect moment of triumph, why will one person or team win out over another? Science has some compelling answers, and in this audiobook, Scientific American explores this topic from various angles.

Professional distance runners Elvin Kibet and Shadrack Kipchirchir grew up in rural Kenyan villages. Though their lives began in poverty, both were driven to reach their full potential, to gain an education, and make a difference. And they would find their way to do just that through the high-pressure world of distance running.