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Books > Biography > Sport
Jack Beresford was the first British Olympian to win medals of any
colour in five consecutive Olympic Games. His record of 3 Gold and
2 silver medals at the 5 Olympic Games held between 1920 and 1936
remained until Sir Steve Redgrave won gold at the 2000 Sydney
Games. Historically, men have had two great chances to prove their
mettle; in battle and in sport. While many are aware that Jack
Beresford was one of Britain's greatest oarsmen, this affectionate
but unsentimental tribute by his son, John, reveals what few know,
that Beresford served his country with distinction in war as well
as in peace, and both with a modesty that is usually indicative of
true merit. It is commonly said, show me the boy and I'll show you
the man, and this work reveals that Jack the schoolboy, the soldier
and the sportsman was driven by the same strict principals of duty
and hard work throughout his life. This is, says John, the story
that his Father never wrote. It is also a story with a delicious
(if vicious) irony; the German bullet that wounded 19-year-old 2nd
Lieutenant Beresford in 1918 led to him abandoning rugby and taking
up rowing. Eighteen years later, the German favourites to win the
Olympic Double Sculls paid the price of Jack's change of sport as,
in the final's last 100 metres, Dick Southwood and Jack Beresford
rowed them to a standstill to win Olympic Gold.
The inspirational and powerful memoir from double world heptathlon
champion and Team GB Olympian Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson has never had it easy. Born a child of two
worlds - her mum’s working-class Liverpool, and her dad’s idyllic
Bahamas - she was never supposed to be a world champion. Her early
childhood wasn’t easy. She was raised by a single mother, and at times
it was a struggle for her to keep up with other athletes who had more
funding around them. But she persevered.
Now, in her intimate, heartfelt autobiography, she tells her story as
she never has before. She opens up about the pressures of representing
Britain at the London Olympics while just sixteen years of age, and
about her complex relationship with mentor-turned-rival Jessica
Ennis-Hill. Unbroken is a rare insight into the inner workings of a
champion's mind: the rigorous discipline, the undying passion for
sport, and the unshakable belief in one's self despite the odds.
Johnson-Thompson’s journey has been a remarkable one. Her upbringing
and her career, both rich with challenges overcome and dreams pursued
with relentless determination, serve as a powerful reminder that the
human spirit is capable of extraordinary feats. But this is more than a
story of triumph-against-the-odds. It’s a testament to the sweat, tears
and laughter that pave the road to success, and to the unyielding
spirit of a true champion.
'I loved it. I thought it was fascinating - really, really
interesting story that he's got to tell... I've known him for years
and I learned an awful lot.' Marc Priestley Kimi Raikkoenen is the
Finnish superstar Formula One driver with a reputation for being
fast on the track and silent off it - until now! In this superb and
authorised portrait of Raikkoenen, Kari Hotakainen gets to reveal
the side of the man that few beyond his close family and friends
have ever seen. Enigmatic and private, Ferrari's former world
champion driver rarely opens up to outsiders, but he granted
Hotakainen exclusive access to his world and to his way of
thinking. It ensures that this will be a book that will delight all
fans of motorsport, who have long revered the Finn. Including
never-previously-seen photographs from his own collection, The
Unknown Kimi Raikkoenen takes the reader into the heart of the
action at grands prix around the world, behind the scenes as race
strategies are planned, and opens up the private side of his life
that he normally guards so carefully. With all the cult appeal of I
Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the raw excitement of Formula One and the
insight of the best biographies, this is a book every sports fan
will want to treasure.
"An exciting and engrossing book with stories that are worth
telling. This work will engage fans of Charlie O. Finley and the
Oakland Athletics, along with anyone captivated by baseball
history." -- Library Journal, starred review The Oakland A's of the
early 1970s: Never before had an entire organization so
collectively traumatized baseball's establishment with its
outlandish behavior and business decisions. The high drama that
played out on the field--five straight division titles and three
straight championships--was exceeded only by the drama in the
clubhouse and front office. Under the visionary leadership of owner
Charles O. Finley, the team assembled such luminary figures as
Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, and Vida Blue, and
with garish uniforms and revolutionary facial hair, knocked
baseball into the modern age. Finley's insatiable need for
control--he was his own general manager and dictated everything
from the ballpark organist's playlist to the menu for the media
lounge--made him ill-suited for the advent of free agency. Within
two years, his dynasty was lost. A sprawling, brawling history of
one of the game's most unforgettable teams, Dynastic, Bombastic,
Fantastic is a paean to the sport's most turbulent, magical team,
during one of major league baseball's most turbulent, magical
times.
If you enjoyed the 1994 fictitious movie Forrest Gump, you'll love
Roy Story, the remarkable, rags-to-riches true account of the
colorful, comical and quick-witted Roy Bucek, who succeeded beyond
his wildest dreams on the football field, the battlefield and in
numerous business fields with a combination of a tremendously
strong backbone and an incomparable funny bone. Bucek came from
such poverty that he and his family barely noticed the so-called
"Great Depression." His athleticism earned him a college
scholarship, where he became the first official track and field
All-American in Texas A&M history and helped the 1939 Aggies
win the football national championship. Bucek lost his eye in the
historic Battle of the Bulge in World War II, but he became a man
of remarkable entrepreneurial vision. He built so many successful
businesses in Schulenburg, Texas that he resided in a sprawling
home he built just south of Interstate-10 and at the end of...Bucek
Street. His fascinating stories are guaranteed to mesmerize you and
motivate you to pursue your own dreams, no matter how far-fetched
they may seem. Roy Story is a captivating read that will take you
back in time and challenge you to build a brighter future.
The first definitive biography of basketball legend LeBron James,
by the acclaimed author of Tiger Woods. LeBron is unquestionably
the greatest basketball player of the 21st century. Off the court,
LeBron's political activism, outspoken stance on racism and social
injustice have helped build a social media presence that includes
117 million followers on Instagram and 51 million followers on
Twitter. He is an international brand worth billions of dollars. He
doesn't just have huge endorsement deals with some of the biggest
corporations in the world; LeBron sits on boards of directors and
has an equity stake in the companies he sponsors. He has forged a
close friendship with President Barack Obama and clashed publicly
with President Donald Trump. As a child, LeBron was a lost little
boy living in a public housing project in Akron, Ohio. His mother,
who had LeBron when she was just sixteen, would disappear for days
at a time. Scared and alone, LeBron rarely attended school. He was
dirt poor and fatherless. And he had never played organised
basketball. Yet he would become the most successful and most
popular athlete that the United States has produced this century,
bringing success to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los
Angeles Lakers. To tell this epic story, Benedict has done
exhaustive research, digging through thousands of pages of primary
source documents, articles, books and hundreds of hours of video
footage. He's also conducted hundreds of interviews with the people
who were intimately involved with LeBron from the beginning of his
life to the present. He shows the initial slow rise of a star that
suddenly transformed into a speeding comet during his senior year
of high school. It is a unique and unmissable insight into one of
the world's greatest athletes.
Two of the most prominent and celebrated athletes in the world,
Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard came together to
contest the $100million SuperFight on April 6, 1987 at Caesars
Palace in Las Vegas. From Frank Sinatra to U2, Joan Collins to
Whoopi Goldberg, the stars were drawn to ringside by the huge
box-office appeal of the blue-collar, dominant world middleweight
champion facing his nemesis, the charismatic and flamboyant Sugar
Ray, who was coming out of virtually five years of retirement.
Drawing on his deep reservoir of nerve, outstanding technique and a
strategy which Budd Schulberg - who provided Marlon Brando with the
immortal line, 'I coulda been a contender' - called a compound
optical illusion, Leonard won on points. It was boxing's greatest
comeback, but to this day the judges' decision remains bitterly
contested and not merely by the protagonists. But the story of The
SuperFight is much more than the story of the fight, for it details
two remarkable lives, the demons that drove both men and the
formidable challenges they overcame inside and outside the ring.
Hagler grew up in the Newark, New Jersey ghetto of Central Ward,
where a riot/rebellion rooted in racism claimed the lives of 26
people, injured 1,000 more and, to the young teenager, was "like
the end of the world". Fuelled by anger, he climbed to the top of
his domain and ruled for seven years as champion, one of the most
accomplished in boxing's annals. Leonard was an Olympic gold
medallist and all-American hero whose career was cut short by a
detached retina after he became the world welterweight king. He was
Muhammad Ali's gifted and anointed successor but he succumbed to
alcohol and drug abuse and for years was tormented by a secret -
the sexual abuse he endured as an amateur boxer by a trusted coach.
As provocative and polarising in its own way as Ali's defining
rivalry with Joe Frazier, this is the story of The SuperFight, of
Marvin Hagler and Ray Leonard and a fierce fire that still burns.
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