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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Sport
Despite his consistency, his achievements and more-so, his visibility, he has never written an autobiography and a biography has never been written about him. He remains an enigmatic figure. We barely know how his teammates really feel about him and we do not know what he thinks of them. We do not really know about the world around him: how the events of the past decade in Egypt have impacted on his own life. We barely know what really motivates him. And we also know very little about where he is heading: whether a deal to join the exodus of high level European-based footballers in Saudi Arabia really interests him. This biography seeks to answer those questions by attempting to speak to the people who know him best through a mixture of on-record and off-record interviews. A definitive biography to remember.
Jan Ullrich: The Best There Never Was is the first biography of Jan
Ullrich, arguably the most naturally talented cyclist of his
generation, and also one of the most controversial champions of the
Tour de France. In 1997, Jan Ullrich announced himself to the world
by obliterating his rivals in the first mountain stage of the Tour
de France. So awesome was his display that it sent shockwaves
throughout the world of cycling and invited headlines such as
L'Equipe's 'The New Giant'. He went on to become Germany's first
ever Tour winner, storming to victory in that edition by almost ten
minutes, a result that was greeted as an era-defining changing of
the guard. Everyone agreed: Jan Ullrich was the future of cycling.
He was soon also voted Germany's most popular sportsperson of all
time, and his rivalry with Lance Armstrong defined the most
controversial years of the Tour de France. Now, Daniel Friebe - who
has covered twenty-one editions of the Tour de France - has gone in
search of the man who was said in 1997 would go on to dominate his
sport for a generation, but never quite managed it. Just what did
happen to the best who never was? This is a gripping account of how
unbearable expectation, mental and physical fragility, the effects
of a complicated childhood, a morally corrupt sport and one
individual - Lance Armstrong - can conspire to reroute destiny.
Daniel Friebe takes us from the legacy of East Germany's drugs
programme to the pinnacle of pro cycling and asks: what price can
you give sporting immortality?
America held little promise during the 1930's, when the Great
Depression vice gripped the country and a boy named Thomas Errol
Wasdin was born into the hardscrabble farmland of Waldo, Florida.
Wasdin was only months old when his mother died of blood poisoning.
Soon afterward, he and his sister were sent to live with their
Uncle and Aunt, who raised them with old-fashioned values rooted in
discipline and hard work. These became character traits that served
Wasdin well - later at the University of Florida and eventually
throughout his life. And what a life it has been; rich and varied,
and not without heartache and an ongoing, debilitating battle with
Trigeminal Neuralgia, which the medical profession chillingly
refers to as the Suicide Disease. It is a life that saw Wasdin
shape the lives of poor children from literally and proverbially
the wrong side of the tracks in Jacksonville, Florida; children who
later became attorneys, administrators, sports stars, politicians,
educators, husbands, wives, parents and productive citizens. It is
a life that saw Wasdin forge friendships with two men he achieved
enormous success with - Joe Williams and Rick Stottler. With
Williams, Wasdin reached the pinnacle of coaching in college
basketball, taking Jacksonville University to the 1970 NCAA
Championship Game against the most powerful program in college
sports history - John Wooden's UCLA Bruins. The account of that
season, and especially that game, captures the controversy and
excitement that surrounded it. Wasdin then moved from an assistant
coach to a successful tenure as JU's head coach. It is a life that
saw Wasdin leave coaching to join Stottler in business and
development, shaping both lives and a stretch of area along the
East Coast of Florida that with his help came to be known as the
Space Coast. It is a life lived in full, and a life story worth
reading.
'Life's A Ball' charts the ups and downs of a football experience
that has rarely been dull Ian Liversedge's story comes from the
very heart of the game - the manager's office, the dug-out, the
boot room and the treatment table. Ian describes his relationships
with managers and players at every level from non-league to
international as well as the changing role of a physiotherapist in
a sport that has become ever-more intense. There are many anecdotes
about a lifestyle away from the football pitch that Ian found both
attractive and magnetic. He has blazed a trail and the book deals
honestly with his shortcomings, including encounters with the
police and the adverse effect on his family life.
Barbara Washburn never set out to become a mountaineering pioneer,
but in 1947, defying social conventions, she became the first woman
to climb Alaska's Mount McKinley.
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