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Opening with Vince Lombardi's last win as coach of the Packers in Super Bowl II and closing with Joe Namath's Super Bowl III guarantee, James Nicholson delivers an original portrait of a sensational closing decade in American culture. Controversies on the field and in the ring reflected broader political and social turmoil in the late-sixties United States. With one of the most contentious presidential elections in US history, the ongoing civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War all storming i...

The true story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and the Miracle on Ice, which Sports Illustrated called the greatest moment in sports history—with a new afterword by Ken Morrow for the fortieth anniversary of the Miracle on Ice   “An unvarnished and captivating read.”—Parade   Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach. Their “Miracle on Ice” has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinder...

The Olympics: A Critical Reader represents a unique, critical guide to the definitive sporting mega-event and the wider phenomenon it represents - Olympism. Combining classic texts and thoughtful editorial discussion with challenging new pieces, including previously unseen material, the book systematically addresses the key questions in modern Olympism, including: what does studying Olympism entail? how do historical accounts create and challenge Olympic myths? how do different theoretical pe...

This, the third volume in a new series celebrating the Olympic Games, offers up a selection of photographs from the Games in Rio in 2016. Photographers John Huet, David Burnett, Jason Evans and Mine Kasapoglu were granted access to the training zones and accompanied the athletes as they prepared for their events before the arrival of the crowds. The photographers provide a commentary on their work in the book, recounting anecdotes about the origins of their images. AUTHOR: David Burnett, an Ame...

In February 2002, the greatest hockey teams this country could muster headed to Salt Lake City to compete in the Winter Olympics. Our men and women hoped to go all the way to the finals, but it had been fifty long years since the Canadians had won Olympic gold. In the past, they had come close – it was just that luck always seemed to be against them. This time, however, their chances to end the long drought were good. The women looked set for a medal – although the all-powerful American team st...

With a show-jumping career spanning over forty years, Nick Skelton is a legend in the equestrian world. No other rider has won so many major competitions on so many different horses and he is as popular at Olympia and Hickstead as he is at Aachen, Geneva, Paris and Spruce Meadows. Skelton has competed in eight Olympic Games. He was part of the gold medal-winning Great Britain team at London 2012 and made history by winning the individual Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016, riding at the age of fifty...

Drazen Petrovic was born on October 22, 1964, in Sibenik, Croatia. Learning basketball at an early age from his older brother, Aleksandar, Drazen was a natural. He began his professional career at the age of fifteen, playing for the national team, where he began his rise through the European circuit. Known as a skilled shooter, it was not unusual for him to score 40, 50, even 60 points during a single game. While playing for Yugoslavia in the Olympics, Drazen and his team finished with the bronz...

The Games traces Britain's great Olympic and Paralympic past through powerful narrative, striking anecdotes and over 250 compelling original images. It captures the individual atmosphere of past Games across the world, from 1930s Berlin to 1980s Moscow, Sydney in the Millennium to Beijing's Birds Nest in 2008, and explores the explosion of interest in the Paralympic Games. London's previous roles as host, rescuing the Games in 1904 after Vesuvius erupted and battling with postwar austerity in 1...

Documenting the renowned swimmer Mark Spitz who won seven gold medals while breaking seven world records at the 1972 Olympics. Every aspect of his roller-coaster career is recorded, from an age-group prodigy and four-medal flop' at the 1968 Olympics to an outstanding collegiate career at Indiana University and a gold-medal haul in 1972 followed by lucrative endorsements and an unsuccessful stint in entertainment. Personal notes about his stormy relationships, his father, and the anti-Semitism he...

The Little Book of Olympic Spirit contains more than 185 quotes from athletes and officials, all on the subject of the four-yearly festival of sporting excellence that is the Olympic Games. In just a few words, they bring to life the joy of competition, the ecstasy of victory, the misery of defeat and the love of Olympic competition in general. The thoughts and opinions of some of the world's greatest competitors, such as the samples below, make this a very special little book. As Mark Spitz fam...