The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics
Athens 2004 Edition
Athens 2004 Edition
By David Wallechinsky
"An indispensable addition to the shelves of both sportswriters and serious fans ... an extremely meticulous piece of scholarship." -New York Times Book Review
The gold medal for chronicling the saga of the modern Olympic Games, at every Olympiad since the Los Angeles summer Games of 1984, has gone to renowned historian David Wallechinsky. His magnus opus, The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, is the one book even the casual fan - the one who might anticipate flipping on the television for only a few events from Athens next August - would find a significant adjunct to his or her viewing pleasure. For the addict who expects to occupy up to 10 hours a day between August 13 and 29 glued to the screen, the book is, indeed, indispensable.
Completely updated, this ultimate Olympic reference book contains all the nitty-gritty detail, including all records, statistics and medal standings as well as results of the top eight finishers in every Olympic event from the 1896 Games in Athens to the 2000 edition in Sydney. But as importantly as that, it also carries, in Wallechinsky's colorful narrative style, the inside stories of each of the major competitors and events in each and every Olympiad. The richness and sheer abundance of the anecdotes leaves the reader feeling not only that he was on hand to witness the particular event as it unfolded, but that he had a seat both at the finish line and, later that evening, in the athletes' village.
As well as touching on the broader Olympic themes, both good and bad - the political and drug scandals, the powerful juggernaut that the International Olympic Commitee has become - The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics also tells the story of the games through images, with more than 100 black and white photographs gracing the pages of both editions and the hardcover edition containing an additional 16-page Complete Olympic Gallery featuring the greatest performers and performances through the history of the modern games.
