Olympic Memoir

CeCé Telfer is a warrior. The first openly transgender woman to win an NCAA championship, she has contended with transphobia on and off the track since childhood. Now, she stands at the crossroads of a national and international conversation about equity in sports, forced to advocate for her personhood and rights at every turn. After spending years training for the 2024 Olympics, Telfer has been sidelined and silenced more times than she can count. But she's never been good at taking no for an answer. Make It Count is Telfer's raw and inspiring story.

In 1975, a group of amazing women rowed their way to international success and glory, battling sexual prejudice, bureaucracy, and male domination. Among the members of the first international women's crew team - and one of the first women's teams anywhere - were Gail Pearson, the soft-spoken MIT professor who fought to win the political battles necessary for her team to succeed; lead rower Carie Graves, a statuesque bohemian from rural Wisconsin who dropped out of college and later became the most intense rower of the crew; and Lynn Stillman, a tiny 16-year-old, Californian coxswain.

At the 1984 Olympics, the United States rowing team—for the first time in nearly 30 years—had a serious chance to win an Olympic medal in the single sculls. Four genuine challengers emerged for the opportunity to represent the US. They competed fiercely in a sport that held no promise of financial reward. What drove these men to endure a physical pain known to no other sport?

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.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Foxcatcher by Mark Schultz, read by Stephen Mendel. On 22 January 1996, Dave Schultz, Olympic gold medalist and wrestling's golden boy, was shot in the back by John E. du Pont at the famed Foxcatcher estate in Pennsylvania. That started a two-day siege at the ranch before the du Pont family heir was finally captured.

After winning Olympic medals for Britain in 1920, Harry Edward (1898-1973) decided to try his luck in America. The country he found was full of thrilling opportunity and pervasive racism. Immensely capable and energetic, Harry rubbed shoulders with kings and presidents, was influential in the revival of Black theatre during the Harlem Renaissance, and became a passionate humanitarian and advocate for child welfare.

The name Eric Liddell is a familiar one to many, having gained much fame through the film Chariots of Fire. A Christian athlete and missionary, his passion for his Saviour could be seen throughout his life. From university days to internment at Weihsien POW Camp, John Keddie’s biography brings together a specialist understanding of both Liddell’s faith and sporting achievements to provide an engaging account of this normal man’s extraordinary life.

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.

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.

Telling the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team's story in expert prose, Pride of a Nation is a lavish tribute to one of the most beloved teams in sports, revisiting their historic four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals, as well as unforgettable players across the generations, such as Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Briana Scurry, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Sophia Smith, Rose Lavelle, Catarina Macario, Mallory Pugh, and more.

Bob Hanning ist der starke Mann im deutschen Handball - und einer der wenigen Sportfunktionäre mit Kultstatus. Seit Jahren bestimmt der charismatische Manager den Herzschlag seines Sports und hat dabei alle Höhen und Tiefen des zweitliebsten Mannschaftssports der Deutschen miterlebt. Mit seinem Mut zur Meinung und Konfrontation wird der Wahlberliner von Publikum und Fachwelt gleichermaßen geliebt wie gehasst.

A compulsive and unforgettable study of intensity, These Heavy Black Bones meditates on Blackness, identity, and the ecstasy of peak physical performance. In stunning prose, Rebecca charts her career's ascent, her singular love of the water, and lays bare the pressures within her swimming world.

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.

My Hidden Race is the story of Olympic medalist Anyika Onuora, who stood on the podium at every major championship in athletics. This book won't go into detail about the technicalities of her sport or the beauty of the Olympic spirit however. In the era of the Black Lives Matter and Me Too, this is an unflinching testimony of what it takes to pursue your dreams as a Black British woman against all odds. This three-time Olympian will lift the lid on the reality of life as a black female athlete in Britain in a way that nobody else has done before her.

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?

Previously published as A Private War, Marie Brenner’s Richard Jewell tells a gripping true story of heroism and injustice. In the early morning hours of July 27, 1996, three pipe bombs exploded at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, killing one person and injuring 111 others. Hundreds more potential casualties were prevented by the vigilance and quick actions of security guard Richard Jewell, who uncovered the bombs and began evacuating the area. But no good deed goes unpunished. Investigators and journalists pursued Jewell as a potential suspect.

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.

Born in a coal camp in Southview, Pennsylvania, to a German immigrant father who was a coal miner for 37 years, my future looked preordained. I was headed to the coal mines or the steel mills in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was just a way of life in Appalachia, and the measurement of success was just getting a job, eventually getting married, and raising a family--a good life by everyone's standards who worked and lived there.

Johnny Quinn shares his “wild dream” of playing in the NFL, being crushed after getting cut three times, losing $2.6 million in contracts, and blowing out his knee. At age 30, when most professional athletes are considered “over the hill”, Johnny was competing for Team USA in the sport of bobsled at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. We all experience failure at some level; Quinn equips us to embrace change, accept risks, and learn to push through barriers, to live life on purpose.

When billions poured into the neglected east London borough hosting the 2012 Olympics, a turf war broke out between crime families for control of a now valuable strip of land. Using violence, guile and corruption, one gangster, the Long Fella, emerged as a true untouchable. A team of local detectives made it their business to take him on until Scotland Yard threw them under the bus and the business of putting on 'the greatest show on earth' won the day.