Journey to Feel like a Man is different than most books about sports because it examines the effort and the struggle that goes on within the athlete, rather than the result that comes out. The book describes extraordinary inner experiences, actually experienced by the author, resulting from intense high pressure athletic competitions, as well as intentional spiritual exercises that took place entirely off the athletic field.

These experiences indicate the existence of levels of reality beyond our ordinary everyday experiences. They can re-shape one 's view of reality and therefore, of the meaning of life itself. The book 's main theme is that our inner world needs to be cultivated and developed as much as our efforts in the outer, external world. Skills developed on the field of play need to become applicable in all aspects of our lives. This is the true measure of maturity and human development.

The author 's friend, Neil Diamond, the well known singer-songwriter, has contributed the 'Liner Notes' from his album "The Bang Years" describing his own early struggles to find success. Neil's 'Liner Notes' have been nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award, and help broaden the scope of the book far beyond the realm of being just about sports.

On an August evening in 2012, crowds of eager fans will witness the conclusion of the Modern Pentathlon competition in Greenwich Park's Olympic stadium. The sport has been the ultimate test of the best all round sportsman in the Olympic Games for exactly one hundred years. Great Britain is the only country in the world to have been represented at every Olympic competition. In Modern Pentathlon - a Centenary History', Andy Archibald tracks the changes in a sport dreamed up by Olympic founder, Baron de Coubertin, from its military origins to the sport for the superfit it is today.

Containing over 1000 questions on all aspects of the Summer Olympic Games, this book is a comprehensive test of sporting and general knowledge. Varied and challenging, the questions are divided into four chapters: Olympic history, Olympic sports, Olympic numbers, and Olympic mixture. Each chapter brings out some fascinating facts about the biggest show in world sport and builds into an ideal resource for fans of the Olympics and quizzes alike.

Leroy Goes To The Olympics, a children's graphic novel by Sybil Blazej-Yee, Concept by Dr. Michael Sheps, Artwork by Toran Joseph. Leroy Dixon's story is based on interviews with the Olympic athlete and conveys his struggle and the people who cheered him on through years of training. His life is sure to inspire 3rd to 5th grade boys who love to find out more about a real sports figure. The graphics feature refreshing artwork by a young new illustrator.

Legacy remains one of the most important issues relating to multisport mega-events across the globe and it could be argued that the development of legacy is one of the most urgent imperatives in elite sport. In this regard the Paralympics is no exception to the quest for long term legacy; however, little in the way of documentation appears to be forthcoming from the International Paralympic community in this regard. This book reviews the concept of legacy across previous Paralympic Games by providing a series of chapters under the headings of 'The Paralympic Legacy Debate', 'Paralympic City Legacies', 'Emerging Issues of Paralympic Legacy' and 'Reconceptualising Paralympic Legacies'. The issues arising are discussed in terms of a meta-analysis of the author's work and offer interesting ideas which if taken up by the International Paralympic Committee, International Olympic Committee, Bid Committees, OCOG's and major sports could change the face of Paralympic legacy towards the positive forever.

Papers presented at a conference held at Universit'at Mainz on May 22, 2009.

Paul T. Owens takes you on a panoramic tour of sports, from the first game ever played, to the people who were the first at their positions on their fields of play. These are the insightful stories behind the excitement we see in every game, of those who managed the events, and those who played to entertain and to win. And most importantly, those who were there first. As a sports writer, Paul T. Owens' articles have appeared in the New York Times and in the Los Angeles Times.

In antiquity Olympia stood for sports. A victory at the Olympic games led to lifelong honours and often to a political career and wealth. Alcibiades, a multifaceted politician from Athens, sponsored all seven chariots in a race to guarantee that one of his horses would definitely win and he would get the honour. Alexander the Great and other kings and emperors, as well as wealthy and powerful men and women, financed the games by erecting religious and civic monuments. Olympia's monuments are associated with the best-known artists of its time. The Zeus temple became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Olympia also had an oracle, which was another major tourist attraction. Numerous ancient sources provide lively reports about Olympia: activities in the sports arenas, the rites of the games, the reactions of the visitors. They also detail sometimes unpleasant daily realities: the crowds, the dust, the heat and the thirst. Still, many mysteries remain: When and why was the Olympian fire extinguished? Why are there so many arms found in a place that is famous for its Olympian peace? Olympia is situated in the western corner of Greece; why is it filled with oriental art? Some answers can be found in archaeological excavations. The author, Ulrich Sinn, has been responsible for major archaeological work; some of the latest is described in this book for the first time.

The media increasingly refers to football clubs as brands. Certainly concepts such as loyalty, affiliation, emotional ties with football clubs seem to parallel the relationship between consumer and brand in the broader marketing sphere. This book delves deep into the world of the lucrative business of sports branding.

In 1968, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented sex testing for female athletes at that year's Games. When it became clear that testing regimes failed to delineate a sex divide, the IOC began to test for gender --a shift that allowed the organization to control the very idea of womanhood. Lindsay Parks Pieper explores sex testing in sport from the 1930s to the early 2000s. Focusing on assumptions and goals as well as means, Pieper examines how the IOC in particular insisted on a misguided binary notion of gender that privileged Western norms. Testing evolved into a tool to identify--and eliminate--athletes the IOC deemed too strong, too fast, or too successful. Pieper shows how this system punished gifted women while hindering the development of women's athletics for decades. She also reveals how the flawed notions behind testing--ideas often sexist, racist, or ridiculous--degraded the very idea of female athleticism.

National Olympic Games were more closely connected with the Ancient Greek ideal than the modern international Olympic Games of de Coubertin. Moreover, such national or regional Olympic Games have not only been precursors for the international Olympic Games but also they have been further developed parallel with the international Olympic Movement - even in the 20th century, in Europe, in North and South America and in Asia. In the emerging nation states of Europe, both before as well as after the turn of the century, these national Olympic Games had a more important function (identity-forming) than the Olympic Games.

From the critically acclaimed and bestselling author David Maraniss, a groundbreaking book that weaves sports, politics, and history into a tour de force about the 1960 Rome Olympics, eighteen days of theater, suspense, victory, and defeat

David Maraniss draws compelling portraits of the athletes competing in Rome, including some of the most honored in Olympic history: decathlete Rafer Johnson, sprinter Wilma Rudolph, Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila, and Louisville boxer Cassius Clay, who at eighteen seized the world stage for the first time, four years before he became Muhammad Ali.

Along with these unforgettable characters and dramatic contests, there was a deeper meaning to those late-summer days at the dawn of the sixties. Change was apparent everywhere. The world as we know it was coming into view.

Rome saw the first doping scandal, the first commercially televised Summer Games, the first athlete paid for wearing a certain brand of shoes. Old-boy notions of Olympic amateurism were crumbling and could never be taken seriously again. In the heat of the cold war, the city teemed with spies and rumors of defections. Every move was judged for its propaganda value. East and West Germans competed as a unified team less than a year before the Berlin Wall.There was dispute over the two Chinas. An independence movement was sweeping sub-Saharan Africa, with fourteen nations in the process of being born. There was increasing pressure to provide equal rights for blacks and women as they emerged from generations of discrimination.

Using the meticulous research and sweeping narrative style that have become his trademark, Maraniss reveals the rich palate of character, competition, and meaning that gave Rome 1960 its singular essence.

The Olympic Tour of China: Seeing Sports, Venues, Cities and Parks All Together in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang The holding of the 2008 Olympics is an important event in the history of China. Many Chinese see it as a symbol of China's growing power and its increasingly important role in international arenas and thus have made tremendous efforts to make it successful. For many outside China, it is a great opportunity to travel to China and see the 2008 Olympic Summer Games as well as the transformation of the cities of China, even as a post Olympic tour. This guide book is to help international tourists to plan and to make a successful Olympic trip in China. This book covers: All Olympic Co-host cites in mainland China Easy way of buying Olympic event tickets Better deals in booking local hotels and air tickets Olympic events and schedule Numerous photos from inner cities How to arrive at Olympic Venues by public transportation Hotels, shops, gourmet streets and bars in the Olympic co-host cities Price negotiation skills and bilingual phrases Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang

When the athletes enter the stadium and the Olympic flame is lit, the whole world watches. Billions will continue to follow the events and to share in the athletes' joys and sorrows for the next sixteen days. Readers of this book, however, will watch forthcoming editions of the Olympic Games in a completely different light. Unlike many historical or official publications and somewhat biased commercial works, it provides -- in a clear, readable form -- informative and fascinating material on many aspects of what Olympism is all about: its history, its organization and its actors. Although public attention is often drawn to various issues surrounding this planetary phenomenon -- whether concerning the International Olympic Committee, the athletes, the host cities or even the scandals that have arisen -- the Olympic System as such is relatively little known. What are its structures, its goals, its resources? How is it governed and regulated? What about doping, gigantism, violence in the stadium? In addition to providing a wealth of information on all these subjects, the authors also show how power, money and image have transformed Olympism over the decades. They round off the work with thought-provoking reflections regarding the future of the Olympic System and the obstacles it must overcome in order to survive.

The 2008 Olympic Games will be held in Beijing, but many human rights activists support a boycott. They liken the circumstances to previous governments that used the games to glorify their regimes--most notoriously the Nazis in 1936. What has led to this perception and is it fair? "Sport, Revolution and the Beijing Olympics" is a cultural history of sport in China that challenges many such ingrained Western assumptions. The authors unpick the relationship of sport to imperialism and revolution and examine its significance in both China and Taiwan at governmental and everyday levels. In the process they successfully debunk harmful myths, such as the prevalence of drugs in Chinese sport among women athletes, and present a balanced view that is a much-needed corrective to popular understanding.

The torch relay that staple of Olympic pageantry first opened the summer games in 1936 in Berlin. Proposed by the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, the relay was to carry the symbolism of a new Germany across its route through southeastern and central Europe. Soon after the Wehrmacht would march in jackboots over the same terrain. The Olympic festival was a crucial part of the Nazi regime's mobilization of power. Nazi Games offers a superb blend of history and sport. The narrative includes a stirring account of the international effort to boycott the games, derailed finally by the American Olympic Committee and the determination of its head, Avery Brundage, to participate. Nazi Games also recounts the dazzling athletic feats of these Olympics, including Jesse Owens's four gold-medal performances and the marathon victory of Korean runner Kitei Son, the Rising Sun of imperial Japan on his bib."

The Olympic Games have become a subject of major importance to students, academics, sports bodies, politicians, urban planners, and the public at large. The Olympic Rings are among the most recognised symbols in the world, and there are few other cultural phenomena that attract such a significant following in the popular media or such widespread support among the nations of the world. "Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games" draws together some of the world's leading scholars on critical issues emerging from ancient Olympic contests, and over one hundred years of modern Olympic history. A wide range of expertise permits the authors to address these issues from varied perspectives, while encompassing an in-depth assessment of the current literature and debates on the Olympics. This book will serve as an interdisciplinary resource for undergraduate and graduate students alike, as well as for the growing cohort of researchers interested in understanding and explaining the historical and sociological significance of the Games.

Despite International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samarach's proclaiming the Sydney 2000 Olympics as the "best ever, " the truth of the matter is much less one-sided. In The Best Olympics Ever? Helen Jefferson Lenskyj discloses what the Sydney 2000 Olympic industry suppressed: the real costs and impacts.

This title is suitable for children of ages 4 to 8 years. Keep the Olympic spirit alive! Children can learn all about the Winter Olympic Sports and catch the spirit with these highly motivational and fun-to-read Easy Olympic Sports Readers. These colourful and exciting books represent six of the most popular winter sports: Sledding, Skiing, Figure Skating, Speed Skating, Ice Hockey, Snowboarding. With such enticing subjects, beginning readers will visit their favourite sports often while learning how to read.

Once a showcase for amateur athletics, the Olympic Games have become a global entertainment colossus powered by corporate sponsorship and professional participation. Stephen R. Wenn and Robert K. Barney offer the inside story of this transformation by examining the far-sighted leadership and decision-making acumen of four International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidents: Avery Brundage, Lord Killanin, Juan Antonio Samaranch, and Jacques Rogge. Blending biography with historical storytelling, the authors explore the evolution of Olympic commercialism from Brundage's uneasy acceptance of television rights fees through the revenue generation strategies that followed the Salt Lake City bid scandal to the present day. Throughout, Wenn and Barney draw on their decades of studying Olympic history to dissect the personalities, conflicts, and controversies behind the Games' embrace of the business of spectacle. Entertaining and expert, The Gold in the Rings maps the Olympics' course from paragon of purity to billion-dollar profits.

Improbable, heart-wrenching, and uplifting, Jeremiah Brown's journey from novice rower to Olympic silver medallist in under four years is a story about chasing a goal with everything you've got. After nearly being incarcerated at age seventeen and becoming a father at nineteen, Jeremiah Brown manages to grow up into a responsible young adult. But while juggling the demands of a long-term relationship, fatherhood, mortgage payments, and a nine-to-five banking career, he feels something is missing. A new goal captures his imagination: What would it take to become an Olympian? Guided by a polarizing coach, Brown and his teammates plumb the depths of physical and mental exertion in pursuit of a singular goal. The 4 Year Olympian is a story of courage, perseverance, and overcoming self-doubt, told from the perspective of an unlikely competitor.