The Buzz...About Books

Graphic: Wikipedia Creative Commons, logo designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, 1912

If controversy was an Olympic event, the Olympic Games would certainly place. 

Boycotts, cheating, corruption, discrimination, doping, human rights violations, terrorism, and violence have taken a place on the podium for decades. Nevertheless, millions will be watching as the Olympic torch is lit on August 5 heralding the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Olympic history, with its tales of human endeavor, scandal, triumph and heartbreaking failure, makes for compelling reading and viewing.  

Available at the Toronto Public Library: 

Olympic Lyon: The Untold Story of the Last Gold Medal for Golf by Michael G. Cochrane 

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand 

• Large Print
• Talking Book on CD (restricted to print disabled patrons)
• Audiobook
• eBook
• eAudiobook

Today We Die A Little: the Inimitable Emil Zátopek, the Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time by Richard Askwith

Unsinkable: My Untold Story by Silken Laumann

• Talking Book on Daisy (restricted to print disabled patrons)
• eBook

For the Glory: Olympic Champion Eric Liddell's Journey of Faith and Survival 

• Audiobook
• Talking Book on CD (restricted to print disabled patrons)
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Chasing Water: An Elegy of An Olympian by Anthony Ervin

Golden Girl: How Natalie Coughlin Fought Back, Challenged Conventional Wisdom, and Became America's Olympic Champion by Michael Silver

Open Heart, Open Mind by Clara Hughes

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The Nazis' scheme to stage the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a showcase for so-called "Aryan superiority" fell apart when the legendary Jesse Owens entered the arena. A complicated victory – Jesse faced his own challenges living under US racist policies – and there was the not-so-well-known story of Marty Glickman, one of the Jewish athletes on the US team who was prevented from participating so as 'not to offend' their violently anti-Semitic hosts.   

Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream by Guy Walters

Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics by Jeremy Schaap

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics by Daniel Brown

• Large Print
• Talking Book on CD (restricted to print disabled patrons)
• Audiobook
• eBook
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Hitler's Olympics: The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games by Christopher Hilton

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More Than Just Games: Canada and the 1936 Olympics by Richard Menkis and Harold Troper

Jesse Owens. A PBS documentary on DVD. 

Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936 by David Clay Large

Glickman directed by James L. Freedman.  An HBO documentary on DVD. 

Further reading on the political, social and ethical issues surrounding the Olympic Games:   

Activism and the Olympics: Dissent at the Games in Vancouver and London by Jules Boykoff

Olympic Industry and Resistence: Challenging Olympic Power and Propaganda by Helen Lenskyj

Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World by David Maraniss

Racism and the Olympics by Robert G. Weisbrod

Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response by Aaron J. Klein

Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup by Andrew Zimbalist

Inside the Olympics: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Politics, the Scandals, and the Glory of the Games by Richard W. Pound

The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100m Final by Richard Moore

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The Olympics on screen: 

Chariots of Fire (1981) directed by Hugh Hudson, with Ben Cross, Ian Charleson. Based on the true story of two British runners in the 1924 Olympics. Won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Song – the Vangelis theme-song - now seared for all time into our collective consciousness. 

Race (2016) directed by Stephen Hopkins, with Stephen James, Jason Sudeikis. Toronto actor James is excellent as the legendary Jesse Owens. 

Unbroken (2014) directed by Angelina Jolie, with Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson. Based on the true story of Olympian Louis Zamperini who participated at the 1936 Berlin games. 

Eddie the Eagle (2016) directed by Dexter Fletcher, with Taron Egerton,  Hugh Jackman. Based on the true story of Eddie Edwards, a British skier who took part in the 1988 Olympics. 

Downhill Racer (1969) directed by Michael Ritchie with Robert Redford, Gene Hackman. Michael Ritchie's debut film. Based on Oakley Hall's novel about a driven US skier. 

Twenty Twelve: The Complete Series (2012) directed by John Morton, with Hugh Bonneville, Amelia Bullmore. BBC television comedy series about fictional organizers of the 2012 Olympics in London.

Cool Runnings (1993) directed by John Turteltaub, with Leon Robinson, John Candy. Disney comedy, loosely-based on the true story of the Jamaican bob-sled team who competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

Munich (2005) directed by Steven Spielberg, with Eric Bana, Daniel Craig. Based on the true story of the operation to hunt those responsible for the massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. 

Finally . . . 

If you are not a fan of the Olympics, or would like to see something a little different, try the Kitten Olympics.