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For the record-breaking third time London will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2012. From the inception of Baron Pierre de Courbetin's crusade to revive the Games of the ancient Greeks, in the 1890s, through the triumphs and disasters of twenty-nine Olympiads, The Daily Telegraph has been there to provide eye-witness accounts of the greatest sporting moments in history with characteristic authority. This comprehensive and colourful review of the summer Olympics takes you back to 1908, the fir...

The Treasures of the Olympic Games brings to life, through more than 200 photographs and 20 removable artefacts, the glorious history of the summer Olympic Games, illustrating the Olympic values that unite the world through sport every four years. Beginning in 776 BC in ancient Greece through to its revival in 1896 and the 26 subsequent Games, this exceptional title charts the event's absorbing and exemplary history as well as a wealth of world sporting achievement. A book of dreams, this...

'Elite athletes aren't born. They're made.'Michael Johnson From a living icon of the Olympic Games - as both an athlete and now as a BBC broadcaster - Gold Rush is a compelling analysis of the fascinating combination of psychological and personal qualities, as well as internal and external factors, that go to create an Olympic champion. This exciting new book is based on Michael Johnson's own experiences as an iconic four-time Olympic champion, and on the knowledge he has gle...

The global geopolitics of sport is being transformed in and by East Asia. Sport in recent decades has been avidly embraced by East Asian nations, with implications both for their image on the international stage and their domestic national identities. The three post-war East Asian Olympic Games, the 'glittering' Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010 and the march of Asia into the global sport market illustrate the fact that a new global sports order has emerged. This collection uniquely discerns the '...

Eminently readable, fun, fact- filled, fully illustrated - and now updated again to include the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro- this entertaining and informative handbook is essential reading for all sports fans, couch potatoes and patriots. First published in 2011 with a Foreword by Sir Chris Hoy, and reprinted in 2012, British Olympic Heroes now features almost 100 outstanding athletes from Great Britain's 120-year record of unbroken attendance at the Olympic Games. Those included are not ne...

"The only man who could have written this book has done it with candor and style. A lucid and penetrating look at the five-ringed world, filled with Dick Pound's customary insight, frankness and wit. Inside the Olympics wins gold, silver and bronze." - John Powers, Boston Globe Every two years, world attention turns to the Olympic Games for a few short weeks, in a celebration of athletic excellence, competition, and national pride. But in recent years, the Olympic ideal has also been tainted by...

How many people will be chosen as volunteers for the 2012 Olympic Games in London? To play a part in the Olympic Games is a wonderful experience - probably a once in a lifetime opportunity - and a rare privilege. No matter what role they play, the support of thousands of volunteers is absolutely vital to the success of any Olympiad. I was one of the few British volunteers at the Atlanta Centenary Olympic Games. It was the most exciting and rewarding three weeks of my life. I saw Olympic finals,...

The 1988 Seoul Olympics played host to what has been described by some as the dirtiest race of all time, by others as the greatest. The final of the men's 100 metres at those Olympics is certainly the most infamous in the history of athletics, and more indelibly etched into the consciousness of the sport, the Olympics, and a global audience of millions, than any other athletics event before or since. Ben Johnson's world-record time of 9.79 seconds - as thrilling as it was - was the beginning ra...

When Great Britain won gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympics coxless four, seven million people watched and voted it the greatest sporting moment of the year.This moment, and Steve Redgrave's fifth Olympic gold medal, has eclipsed the long and troubled journey four men made to peak at exactly the right time. Tim Foster brings vividly to life what it's like to be one of four headstrong, and at times conflicting, personalities and reveals how close they all came to implosion as the Sydney Olympics appr...

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing is already one of the most significant events in terms of establishing imagery designed to have a long standing impact. It involves the coordination of various institutional actors with multiple, often competing interests and narratives: some that can be described as "integrative," some as "disruptive," depending on the point of view. The International Olympic Committee, the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG), corporate sponsors, media organizations, human r...