|
|
Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Water sports & recreations > Swimming & diving
'I Found My Tribe is inspiring, humbling and a picture of what love
really looks like' Marian Keyes An invocation to all of us to love
as hard as we can, and live even harder, I Found My Tribe is an
urgent and uplifting letter to a husband, family, friends, the
natural world and the brightness of life. Ruth's tribe are her
lively children and her filmmaker husband, Simon, who has Motor
Neurone Disease and can only communicate with his eyes. Ruth's
other 'tribe' are the friends who gather at the cove in Greystones,
Co. Wicklow, and regularly throw themselves into the freezing cold
water, just for kicks. 'The Tragic Wives' Swimming Club', as they
jokingly call themselves, meet to cope with the extreme challenges
life puts in their way, not to mention the monster waves rolling
over the horizon. 'Fitzmaurice tells her story in sparkling prose
that is as sinewy as her new sea-strengthened body, and as
admirable and boundless as her spirit', Sunday Times 'Uplifting and
life-affirming' Stylist
Waterman is the first comprehensive biography of Duke Kahanamoku
(1890-1968): swimmer, surfer, Olympic gold medalist, Hawaiian icon,
waterman. Long before Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz made their
splashes in the pool, Kahanamoku emerged from the backwaters of
Waikiki to become America's first superstar Olympic swimmer. The
original "human fish" set dozens of world records and topped the
world rankings for more than a decade; his rivalry with Johnny
Weissmuller transformed competitive swimming from an insignificant
sideshow into a headliner event. Kahanamoku used his Olympic renown
to introduce the sport of "surf-riding," an activity unknown beyond
the Hawaiian Islands, to the world. Standing proudly on his
traditional wooden longboard, he spread surfing from Australia to
the Hollywood crowd in California to New Jersey. No American
athlete has influenced two sports as profoundly as Kahanamoku did,
and yet he remains an enigmatic and underappreciated figure: a
dark-skinned Pacific Islander who encountered and overcame racism
and ignorance long before the likes of Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, and
Jackie Robinson. Kahanamoku's connection to his homeland was
equally important. He was born when Hawaii was an independent
kingdom; he served as the sheriff of Honolulu during Pearl Harbor
and World War II and as a globetrotting "Ambassador of Aloha"
afterward; he died not long after Hawaii attained statehood. As one
sportswriter put it, Duke was "Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey combined
down here." In Waterman, award-winning journalist David Davis
examines the remarkable life of Duke Kahanamoku, in and out of the
water.
|
|