Olympic Memoir

Mary Sanders was handed an Olympic dream by her father from the moment she was born. Determined to follow in his footsteps, the young gymnast struggled through training setbacks, financial hardships, and personal rivalries, under a cloud of grief, to compete in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. But that achievement was only the beginning for a woman determined to reinvent herself and consistently raise her own standards for success.

Honest, funny, brave and inspired, Macca shares her story here for the first time: the family and first-believers who supported and challenged her from the beginning; the coaches and mentors who pushed her beyond her comfort zone and provided the blueprint of a champion; the rivals and teammates who transformed the Matildas into a global force to be reckoned with.

Emil Zátopek won five Olympic medals, set 18 world records and went undefeated over 10,000 metres for six years. He redefined the boundaries of endurance, but his toughness was matched by a spirit of friendship and a joie de vivre that transcended the darkest days of the Cold War. His triumphs put his country on the map, yet when Soviet tanks moved in to crush Czechoslovakia's new freedoms in 1968, Zátopek paid a heavy price for his defence of 'socialism with a human face'. Rehabilitated two decades later, the world had all but forgotten him.

One of the top bobsledders in the world and leader of the four-man American team, Steven Holcomb had finished sixth in the 2006 Olympics and medaled in nearly every competition he entered. He was considered a strong gold contender for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Talented, aggressive, and fearless, he was at the top of his game. But Steven Holcomb had a dangerous secret. Steven Holcomb was going blind....

After winning Olympic medals for Britain in 1920, Harry Edward (1898-1973) decided to try his luck in America. The country he found was full of thrilling opportunity and pervasive racism. Immensely capable and energetic, Harry rubbed shoulders with kings and presidents, was influential in the revival of Black theatre during the Harlem Renaissance, and became a passionate humanitarian and advocate for child welfare.

Men's hockey in Canada may hog the limelight, but interest in women's hockey has never been higher. The Role I Played is a memoir of Sami Jo Small's 10 years with Canada's National Women's Hockey Team. Beginning with her experience as a rookie at the first-ever women's Olympic hockey tournament in Nagano in 1998 and culminating with Canada's third straight Olympic gold medal in Vancouver in 2010, the veteran goaltender gives the listener behind-the-scenes insight into one of the most successful teams in sports history.

Yusra Mardini fled her native Syria to the Turkish coast in 2015 and boarded a dinghy full of refugees bound for Greece. When the small and overcrowded boat's engine cut out, it began to sink. Yusra, her sister and two others took to the water, pushing the boat for three and a half hours in open water until they eventually landed on Lesbos, saving the lives of the passengers aboard.

An inspirational memoir by a man who became an elite wheelchair athlete after suffering a catastrophic spinal injury and who finally walked again 25 years after his accident. After two years of intense physical therapy following his crippling accident, John Maclean set a new course for himself when his father encouraged him to embrace his new reality and asked: "How far can you go"? Inspired, Maclean became the first paraplegic to complete the Ironman World Championship and swim the English Channel before going on to win a silver medal for rowing at the 2008 Paralympic Games.

From three-time Olympian and Olympic champion Kyle Shewfelt, this is the inside story of his pursuit of gymnastics glory, his courageous comeback from two broken legs, and how the difference makers in his life guided him along the way.

For as long as she can remember, Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross's life has been measured in seconds. The fewer, the better. But when the race is over, how do you know what to run towards next? In Chasing Grace, join Sanya as she helps you see your own experiences through God's eyes.

One of America's most heralded young divers, David Boudia twice went for Olympic gold, training obsessively and wholeheartedly for success. In his first Olympics, he failed miserably, not winning a single medal. Four years later saw a different story: He mounted the podium twice, winning both gold and bronze. The difference? In the intervening years, he'd changed the focus of his quest from seeking glory for himself to giving glory to God.

The inspirational and powerful memoir from double world heptathlon champion and Team GB Olympian Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Dreams Do Come True tells the inspirational story of one of Britain's golden girls from London 2012. Great Britain's finest woman rower had one final career target to achieve and, on 3 August 2012, on the water at Eton Dorney, she - and Anna Watkins - beat three other pairs to win the gold in the Women's Double Sculls at the London Olympics. After winning silver in 2000, 2004 and 2008, Katherine Grainger could finally call herself an Olympic champion.

13 World Championship appearances. 6 Olympic Games. Hockey Hall of Famer. All while raising a child, earning multiple university degrees, and not benefiting from the financial stability male professional athletes have. She gave the game everything she had—now, Hayley shares what the game gave her.

Con orígenes en la Depresión norteamericana y a pocos años de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Daniel James Brown narra la epopeya del equipo de ocho remeros y su timonel de la Universidad de Washington, y su épica misión de ganar la medalla de oro en 1936 en los Juegos Olímpicos del Berlín de Hitler. El equipo de remo estadounidense que sorprendió al mundo y que transformó este deporte atrajo la atención de millones de personas.

On July 27, 1996, a hapless former cop turned hypervigilant security guard named Richard Jewell spotted a suspicious bag in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park, the town square of the 1996 Summer Games. Inside was a bomb, the largest of its kind in FBI and ATF history. Minutes later, the bomb detonated amid a crowd of 50,000 people. But thanks to Jewell, it only wounded 111 and killed 2, not the untold scores who would have otherwise died. The pressure to find the bomber was intense. Within 72 hours, Jewell went from the hero to the FBI's main suspect.

Both Jesse Owens and Adolf Hitler grew up in poverty, and both men struggled to find their footing later in life. Owens represented the United States in the 1936 Olympics, after which he found it difficult to sustain a well-paying job. Adolf Hitler moved to Vienna as a teenager, following his parents' death, but he never found the financial success he so desperately craved as an artist. He spent most of his time in the city a penniless, unemployed young man. The similarities between the two men end there.

Cowboy Stuntman chronicles the life and achievements of this colorful Texan and Olympic gold medal winner who spent a half century as a Hollywood stuntman and actor, appearing in 10 John Wayne movies and doubling for a long list of actors as diverse as Robert Culp, Michael Landon, Steve Martin, Strother Martin, Robert Redford, and Roy Rogers.

In My Greek Drama, Gianna Angelopoulos - known in her home country simply as "Gianna" - has written a memoir that is as much about Greece's journey as her own. From her childhood in Crete, to law school in Thessaloniki, to Athens, where she overcame male-dominated legal and political cultures to help redefine public service in Greece, Gianna worked her way into becoming one of the most respected women in Greek public life.

From the lush fields of his boyhood in Jamaica, to the basketball courts of Oakville, where he came of age in one of Canada’s most thriving cultural mosaics, to his sprint toward double Olympic gold for Canada in Atlanta in 1996, Donovan Bailey got a long way on natural talent. But he also learned that in the bureaucratic world of Canadian sports, an athlete who didn't come up in the system needed to take charge of his fate if he was going to become the world’s best.