The XXV Winter Olympic Games kick off this month in Milan, Italy! Olympians from around the world will compete in sports like hockey, figure skating, bobsledding, curling, and more. While the athletes’ performances on the ice and snow capture our attention, their stories of dedication, perseverance, and triumph over adversity are what make a lasting impact. This month, explore the journeys of impressive American Olympians and Paralympians from throughout history.
The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team by Wayne Coffey; foreword by Jim Craig
Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century. Their “Miracle on Ice” has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinderella story is even more remarkable. It is a legacy of hope, hard work, and homegrown triumph. It is a chronicle of everyday heroes who just wanted to play hockey happily ever after. It is still unbelievable. The Boys of Winter is an evocative account of the improbable American adventure in Lake Placid, New York. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, Wayne Coffey explores the untold stories of the U.S. upstarts, their Soviet opponents, and the forces that brought them together.
The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph by Oksana Masters with Cassidy Randall
Oksana was born in Ukraine, in the shadow of Chernobyl. She was born with one kidney, a partial stomach, six toes on each foot, webbed fingers, no right bicep, and no thumbs. Her left leg was six inches shorter than her right, and she was missing both tibias. Relinquished to the orphanage system, Oksana encountered numerous abuses. Then Gay Masters, an unmarried American professor, saw a photo of the little girl; she waged a two-year war to rescue Oksana from her circumstances. In America, Oksana was fueled by a drive to succeed that still smoldered from childhood. She triumphed in not just one sport but four: winning against the world’s best in elite rowing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and road cycling competitions. Now considered one of the world’s top athletes, she is the recipient of seventeen Paralympic medals, the most of any US athlete of the Winter Games, Paralympic or Olympic. This is Oksana’s journey. Her message to anyone who doesn’t fit in: You can find a place where you excel, where you have worth.
– Adapted from Jacket
Rise: My Story by Lindsey Vonn
The first-ever memoir from the greatest female ski racer of all time, revealing never-before-told stories of her life in the fast lane, and the bold decisions that helped her break down barriers for athletes around the world.
– Provided by Publisher
Beautiful on the Outside: A Memoir by Adam Rippon
Former Olympic figure skater Rippon showcases his funny and inspiring personality in this entertaining memoir. From traveling to practices on the Greyhound bus next to ex-convicts to being so poor he could only afford to eat the free apples at his gym, Rippon got through the toughest times with a smile on his face, a glint in his eye, and a quip ready for anyone listening.
One Jump at a Time: My Story by Nathan Chen
The three-time World Champion, Olympic gold medalist, and the first Asian American man to stand at the highest podium in figure skating reflects on the events that led him to where he is today, in this testament to the love of family and the power of persistence, grit, and passion.
A Skating Life by Dorothy Hamill with Deborah Amelon
The dazzling smile, the signature haircut, the staple spin. Dorothy Hamill grew up on the ice, working toward the dream she was to accomplish by age nineteen: Olympic gold in figure skating. But life was not the picture of perfection it appeared to be. Dorothy faced a painful inner struggle–though she did not know about the depression that ran in her family until much later in life. Weeks and months away from home to train and compete took a difficult toll, yet little reprieve could be found in her tumultuous and fragile relationship with her parents. She went on to skate with the Ice Capades and to marry the man of her dreams, Dean Paul Martin, only to have the partnership end in heartache. A second failed marriage tested Dorothy’s trust yet again, but she found strength in what she did have–her daughter Alexandra, and her skating.
– From Publisher Description
🏀 And while it may not be a sport in the Winter Olympics, we’re in the midst of Basketball season in the US! Here are some titles about legendary American Olympic Basketball teams. 🏀
Inaugural Ballers by Andrew Maraniss (YA, Graphic Novel)
Twenty years before women’s soccer became an Olympic sport and two decades before the formation of the WNBA, the 1976 US women’s basketball team laid the foundation for the incredible rise of women’s sports in America at the youth, collegiate, Olympic, and professional levels. Though they were unknowns from small schools such as Delta State, the University of Tennessee at Martin and John F. Kennedy College of Wahoo, Nebraska, at the time of the ’76 Olympics, the American team included a roster of players who would go on to become some of the most legendary figures in the history of basketball. From Pat Head, Nancy Lieberman, Ann Meyers, Lusia Harris, coach Billie Moore, and beyond — these women took on the world and proved everyone wrong. Packed with black-and-white photos and thoroughly researched details about the beginnings of US women’s basketball, Inaugural Ballers is the fascinating story of the women who paved the way for girls everywhere.
Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever by Jack McCallum
They were the Beatles of basketball, the Mercury Seven in sneakers. In Dream Team, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team that captivated the world, kindled the hoop dreams of countless children around the planet, and remade the NBA into a global sensation. As a senior staff writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona.
– Provided by Publisher
