The Summer Olympics, aka Paris 2024, will begin on Friday, July 26, 2024, and continue until Sunday, August 11th. This year's games will welcome 5 new events, Breaking, (Break Dancing), 3x3 Basketball, Skate Boarding, Sport Climbing, and Surfing. A total of 45 different sports will be featured.
In ancient Greece, the Olympics were not just about sport, but also a religious festival. While Olympia was a sanctuary for Zeus, the site held over 70 alters dedicated to various deities. Olympia was a peaceful idyllic place, for all but one week a year, when the Olympic Games brought in not just the athletes and spectators, but artists who would display their wares. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of IOC (International Olympic Committee) and the the modern Games, considered art an integral component of the Olympics. When some local organizers of the games in Athens, St. Louis, and Paris claimed that the art competitions were unnecessary; de Coubertin said: There is only one difference between our Olympiads and plain sporting championships, and it is precisely the contests of art as they existed in the Olympiads of Ancient Greece, where sport exhibitions walked in equality with artistic exhibitions." (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-the-olympics-gave-out-medals-for-art-6878965/). The art medals were awarded for architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. The 1948 Olympics in London was the last year of the Olympic art medals. It ended, because, in 1949, members of the IOC, felt that the professional status of the artists was not reflective of the amateur status of the Olympics. It wasn't until 1986 that professional athletes were allowed to compete. https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024.
The Games is best-selling sportswriter David Goldblatt's sweeping, definitive history of the modern Olympics. Goldblatt brilliantly traces their history from the reinvention of the Games in Athens in 1896 to Rio in 2016, revealing how the Olympics developed into a global colossus and highlighting how they have been buffeted by (and affected by) domestic and international conflicts. Along the way, Goldblatt reveals the origins of beloved Olympic traditions (winners' medals, the torch relay, the eternal flame) and popular events (gymnastics, alpine skiing, the marathon). And he delivers memorable portraits of Olympic icons from Jesse Owens to Nadia Comaneci, the Dream Team to Usain Bolt.
"The true story of the birth of Olympic basketball at the 1936 Summer Games in Hitler's Germany"-- Provided by publisher.
In this revised and all-colour edition of her indispensable guide to the ancient Games, Judith Swaddling traces their mythological and religious origins, and describes the events, the sacred ceremony and the celebrations that were an essential part of the Olympic festival.
Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of synchronized swimming's elevation to Olympic status, this breathtaking book, tracing a century of aquatic performance, from vaudeville and dime museums to the Olympic arena, honors the grit, glamor and sheer athleticism of an utterly unique sport that forever changed women's relationships with water.
"Faster! Higher! Stronger! Stranger! A glorious tapestry of legendary characters, forgotten records, crazy accomplishments, unbelievable feats, wacky contests, and controversial moments, Total Olympics is pure pleasure for anyone who loves the world's greatest sporting event. Discover how the modern Games began, in an out-of-the-way Victorian English town named Much Wenlock. Long-discontinued Olympic sports like tug of war, firefighting, live pigeon shooting, and painting. (Picasso for the gold?) And the over-the-top, heroic exploits that make it all so thrilling--like the inspiring story of gymnast Shun Fujimoto who brought his team to victory while fighting through the pain of a broken knee. With hundreds of true stories and stunning photographs, it's a collection of sports yearns unlike any other."--. Provided by publisher.
"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. From coming of age in Jamaica, where she grew up hearing a constant barrage of slurs, to beginning her new life in Toronto and then New Hampshire, where she realized what running could offer her, to living in the backseat of her car while searching for a coach, to Mexico, where she trained for the US Trials, this book follows the arc of Telfer's Olympic dream. But it's also the story of resilience and athleticism, of a runner who found a clarity in her sport that otherwise eluded her--a sense of being simply alive on this earth, a human moving through space. Finally, herself." --. book jacket.
Ibtihaj Muhammad's path to Olympic greatness has been marked with opposition and near-debilitating challenges because of her race, religion, and gender. As the only woman of color and the only religious minority on the U.S. women's saber team, she had to push past sterotypes, misconceptions, and negativity to find her own path to success and Olympic Glory. Her reflection provides an unflinching and honest portrayal of how she managed to stay true to herself and still play by the rules.
"Maggie Nichols' official memoir is an inspirational tell-all about the abuse she suffered under the USA national gymnastic team and how she managed to redefine herself in the face of adversity. In 2015, Maggie risked everything when she revealed to her coach how USAG doctor Larry Nassar had been sexually abusing the athletes under his care. What ensued was an investigation that would capture the nation, involving multiple faculty members of the gymnastics team, and multiple gymnasts. An inspirational tell-all and intimate look into the world of elite gymnastics--from the Károlyi's to the politics of Olympic tryouts to grueling daily routines--Maggie now tells this story in her words: a story of trauma, reclaiming, and triumph. Featured in critically acclaimed documentaries including Netflix's Athlete A (2020) and HBO's At the Heart of Gold (2019), the story of Nassar's abuse--and the length members of the team took to cover it up--is a critical look into this harrowing history, now told for the first time in memoir by Maggie Nichols. *Content warning for: sexual abuse"--. Provided by publisher.
"Muhammad Ali was one of the most photographed—and photogenic—figures in the history of sports. He demanded to be looked at, to be seen, and this epic captures his meteoric rise from Cassius Clay to Olympian and heavyweight champion of the world with stunning illustrations befitting his storied legacy. Bringing readers through major moments of his life—his first meeting with civil rights leader Malcolm X, his interview with sports broadcaster Howard Cosell about his reasons for opposing the Vietnam War, and his titanic bout with then-undefeated heavyweight champion George Foreman, among others—this graphic biography will be a crucial and instantly popular resource on The Greatest" --. Publisher's description.
"Chris Bosh, NBA Hall of Famer, eleven-time All-Star, two-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, and the league's Global Ambassador, had his playing days cut short at their prime by a freak medical condition. His extraordinary career ended "in a doctor's office in the middle of the afternoon." Forced to reckon with moving forward, he found himself looking back over the course he'd taken, to the pinnacle of the NBA and beyond. Reflecting on all he had learned from a long list of basketball legends, from LeBron and Kobe to Pat Riley and Coack K, he saw that his most important lessons weren't about basketball so much as the inner game of success--right attitude, right commitment, right flow within a team. Now he shares that journey, giving us a view from the inside of what greatness feels like and what it takes" -- Back cover.
