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The Death of Marco Pantani: A Biography
By Matt Rendell. 2006
Intimate biography of the charismatic Tour de France winner and the world that caused his downfall At 9:30 pm on…
14 February 2004, former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani was found dead in Rimini. It emerged that he had been addicted to cocaine since Autumn 1999, weeks after being expelled from the Tour of Italy for blood doping. Conspiracy theories abounded - that he was injected in his sleep by a business rival, that the Olympic Committee had framed him, that Italian Industrialists had engineered his downfall, etc etc. If none of these is entirely true and none of them fully explains Pantani's personal tragedy, none of them is foundationless. This book debunks the myths and makes surprising revelations. About Pantani's personal tragedy, but also about the world of cycling. Matt Rendell had access not only to court transcripts but to many of Pantani's friends and the doctors who treated him. But Pantani's life is about much more than drug addiction. Lance Armstrong described him as 'more of an artist than an athlete - an extravagant figure ...' Despite being plagued with injuries he won both the Giro and the Tour in 1998, something very few cyclists even attempt. He was an inspirational icon, and the remarkable wins against all odds make gripping reading.A Significant Other: Riding the Centenary Tour de France with Lance Armstrong
By Matt Rendell. 2012
An inside view into cycling's most prestigious event and the people who have helped Lance Armstrong win an unprecedented six…
timesLance Armstrong's place in the cycling history books is assured. Winner of the Tour de France a record-breaking six times, he is regarded as one of the greatest individual talents the sport has ever seen. Perhaps his most compelling victory was in 2003 when he won the coveted Centenary race. However, without the team of brilliant athletes assembled to support him - the domestiques - victory in the Tour would have been impossible.Not only do these superbly trained athletes ride alongside the team leader, supplying water and equipment, but they also create a moving stream of energy that is vital for competitive success. In 2003, Lance Armstrong's domestique, Victor Hugo Peña, actually took over the yellow jersey and stepped into history. A Significant Other is the story of that race but also of these unsung heros of the sport.Steven Gerrard: My Liverpool Story
By Steven Gerrard. 2012
Steven Gerrard is a genuine Liverpool legend.Captain at the age of 23.Two FA Cups.Three League Cups.One UEFA Cup.And that Champions…
League win.Gerrard embodies the spirit and passion of Liverpool football club like no other in the modern era.From the raw but talented youngster who made the jump from the Melwood training ground and took to the famous Anfield turf at 18, to the talismanic skipper who has led his beloved club through thick and thin, this stunningly illustrated book, complete with exclusive new photographs, is the story of his fifteen momentous seasons at Liverpool FC.Along with a foreword from Kenny Dalglish, this is Steven Gerrard's Liverpool story in his own words.It's in the Blood
By Lawrence Dallaglio. 2007
As a Premiership, World Cup and Grand Slam winner, no one better embodies the charisma and the colour of English…
rugbys greatest era than Lawrence Dallaglio. He has some story to tell, not just of the formidable exploits on the field, but an extraordinary life off it. His only sister, Francesca, was the youngest to perish in the Marchioness disaster and her death at 19 remains the great sadness of his life. In addition to this and his much-talked about England exploits, he also led his club Wasps to the summit of European rugby, winning two Heineken Cups and three consecutive English Premiership titles. Full of drama, controversy and great sadness, Lawrence Dallaglios story the last of the great World Cup heroes is the one every rugby fan has been waiting to read.The Olympics: Behind the Scenes at the Olympics
By Nick Hunter. 2011
From the winning bid to the Olympic village and stadiums, this book looks beyond the sports and into all aspects,…
such as the costs involved, the media and where events will take place around the country.Usain Bolt: Inspirational Lives
By Simon Hart. 2012
The series focuses on the people who inspire children today. Each book looks at the background, life and achievements of…
a personality, their impact on popular culture as well as detailing the everyday facets of their job and how they have gained such success.The Olympics: Olympic Champions
By Nick Hunter. 2011
Born to Fight: The bestselling story of UFC champion Mark Hunt, the real life Rocky
By Mark Hunt, Ben Mckelvey. 2015
A powerful story of sadness, hope, pride, honour and triumph from the real-life Rocky!Raw, confronting and honest, UFC champion Mark…
Hunt's inspiring autobiography shows it is possible to defy the odds and carve a better life. Born into a Mormon Samoan family, Hunt details his harrowing early life, his troubled teen years, and his angry youth with no apparent future.After being plucked from an Auckland street fight and dropped into his first kickboxing bout, Mark went on to achieve unprecedented success in Australian and New Zealand combat sports. In an ongoing career that has spanned the globe, Mark Hunt has been in some of the UFC, Pride and K-1's most memorable battles. But in some ways those fights pale in comparison to that which he has overcome out of the ring and cage.As fearless with his opinions as he is in the Octagon, Mark pulls no punches in revealing the highs and lows of his extraordinary life.Unbroken
By Laura Hillenbrand. 2010
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only…
a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.The lieutenant's name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he'd been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man's journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit.No Picnic on Mount Kenya: The Story Of Three P. O. W's Escape To Adventure
By Felice Benuzzi. 2016
In the shadow of Mount Kenya, surrounded by the forests and creatures of the savannah, life drags interminably for the…
inmates of POW Camp 354. Confined to an endless cycle of boredom and frustration, one prisoner realizes he can bear it no longer.When the clouds covering Mount Kenya part one morning to reveal its towering peaks for the first time, Felice Benuzzi is transfixed. The tedium of camp life is broken by the beginnings of a sudden idea--an outrageous, dangerous, brilliant idea.Not many people would break out of a POW camp and trek for days across perilous terrain before climbing the north face of Mount Kenya with improvised equipment, meager rations, and a picture of the mountain on a tin of beef as their most accurate guide. Fewer still would break back into the camp on their return.This is the remarkable story of three such men--a powerful testament to the human spirit of rebellion and adventure--reissued in a deluxe edition featuring Benuzzi's own watercolor paintings of the expedition and a final chapter that has never before appeared in English.High Stakes: The rise of the Waterhouse dynasty
By Paul Kennedy. 2014
Drama, glamour, scandal, success - and very high stakes. The story of Australia's best known horse racing family has it…
all.When it comes to racing, the name most Australians associate with the racetrack is Waterhouse. This is their compelling story.HIGH STAKES takes us from Bill Waterhouse's introduction to the world as a sixteen-year-old, working as a bookmaker for his father in the late thirties - going on to make money both on and off the track - to the headlines caused by his involvement in the notorious Fine Cotton affair in the eighties.It examines his son Robbie's rise as a respected bookie and a knowledgeable judge of horses, to his spectacular fall, as a result of that same Fine Cotton affair, which led to a life ban from involvement in the racing industry. While the ban was lifted in 2001, he keeps a low profile these days. As Kennedy reveals, the same cannot be said of Robbie's wife, Gai, daughter of the legendary horse trainer TJ Smith. In a male-dominated world, she has gone on to rival her father as one of Australia's best trainers, training horses for a star-studded clientele that has ranged from John Singleton to the Queen of England.Yet as HIGH STAKES shows, the scandal aside, the marriage between Gai and Robbie was always going to be problematic. As the Sydney Morning Herald put it: 'It's not that the Smiths and the Waterhouses were necessarily the Capulets and the Montagues but the country's leading trainer and the world's biggest bookmaker were hardly natural kinsfolk either.'Despite an already colourful history, when their son, Tom, stepped into the family business and became one of the best-known and most controversial bookies the country had ever seen, Kennedy describes how the dramas for the Waterhouse dynasty were only just beginning...This is the book for anyone who wants to know the inside story of contemporary Australian horse racing, a world where premiers and millionaires rub shoulders with gangsters and girls with fancy hats. It's a world of passion, action - and very high stakes.So Close: Bravest, Craziest, Uunluckiest Defeats in Aussie Sport
By Patrick Mangan. 2013
A tribute to the bravest, craziest, unluckiest, most ridiculous defeats in Australian sporting history.Typically, there?s only one way to win…
? by being the best. But there are countless ways of having victory snatched from your grasp. Remember Pat Rafter?s 2001 Wimbledon final against the enigmatic Goran Ivanisevic. Think of Allan Border and Jeff Thomson?s titanic last-wicket partnership against England in 1982 that nearly won one of the closest-fought Tests ever.Look no further than Australian walker Jane Saville, only a few hundred metres from a gold medal at Sydney 2000 when she was tragically disqualified. And yet, as Adam Scott shows, a devastating defeat can sometimes spur a champion on to glory.From the calamitous to the hilarious, from the poignant to the absurd, sport is about so much more than gold medals, premiership trophies and urns filled with ashes. And in So Close, some of those sportspeople will finally get the recognition they deserve.Goal!: Intimate portraits and interviews with every living FIFA World Cup Final scorer
By Michael Donald. 2017
Beautifully illustrated and officially licensed by FIFA, Goal! is a unique football book that captures the essence of the ultimate…
sporting achievement.This is a fascinating portrait of the men who have lived the dream of every football fan worldwide. Includes: Intimate portraits by award-winning photographer Michael DonaldInterviews with the players, giving fascinating insight into the occassion, from the music they played on the bus to the stadium, to the meal they ate afterwardsProfiles on Pelé, Ronaldo, Zidane, Götze annd many more of the greatsThe book includes the story of what happened in each FIFA World Cup?, what happened to the players afterwards and what they do today. There's also a comprehensive statistics section covering all the facts and figures for each World Cup tournament so readers can relive the matches they saw, and discover the details about the ones they didn't.The Master: The Life and Times of Dally Messenger Australia's First Sporting Superstar
By Sean Fagan, Dally Messenger. 2007
Dally Messenger was an Australian sporting superstar in the early years of the 20th century - a rugby league icon,…
rugby union champion, and the most popular sporting personality of this day.He was courted by all codes in that heady period of the early 1900s, when rugby league and Australian rules were fighting to become the dominant winter sport. He represented Australia in rugby league and rugby union and also represented New Zealand in rugby league. Thousands flocked to the grounds when he was playing, and he his revered as an icon in rugby league to this very day.The Master is a popular and authoritative account of the life and times of a superlative sportsman, a tribute to a rugby league player without peer, and an inspiring story for all those who would marvel at this sporting excellence and outstanding achievements.Eddie: The rise and rise of Eddie McGuire
By Michael Bodey. 2015
The inspiring biography of one of Australia's best-known businessmen, TV stars and footy club presidents.Eddie McGuire charts the incredible rise…
of Edward Joseph McGuire AM from his childhood in the working-class Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, through his nightclub days as an ambitious young sports reporter to the heights of television, radio,the AFL and politics.Award-winning author and journalist Michael Bodey explores McGuire's rise to the presidency of the most popular football club in the land, Collingwood; his creation of Channel Nine's 'The Footy Show'; his ascent to become Australian television's 'Eddie Everywhere' before his unlikely appointment as Nine's CEO and 'Five Million Dollar Man'; as well as his political ambitions, including his role opposite Malcolm Turnbull heading the republican campaign.Covering Eddie McGuire's many feuds, his missteps, his successes, the turnaround of his beloved Magpies and his seemingly unstoppable rise, this is the inspiring and unique story of the ultimate working-class boy made good.Harold Larwood
By Duncan Hamilton. 2009
Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, this is the first ever biography of Harold Larwood. Larwood,…
one of the most talented, accurate and intimidating fast bowlers of all time is mainly remembered for his role in the infamous Bodyline series of 1932-3 which brought Anglo-Australian diplomatic relations to the brink of collapse.Larwood was made the scapegoat--and despite the fact he was simply following his captain's instructions, he never played cricket for England again. Devastated by this betrayal, he eventually immigrated to Australia, where he was accepted by the country that had once despised him.Acclaimed author Duncan Hamilton has gained unprecedented access to the late sportsman's family and archives to tell the story of a true working-class hero and cricketing legend.Believe: Young Readers Edition
By Mike Yorkey, Eric Legrand. 2012
Believe is the profoundly moving story of Eric LeGrand, the former defensive tackle for the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights football…
team, who suffered a severe spinal cord injury and was left paralyzed by a crushing on-field tackle during a heated game with Army. A remarkable true account of a courageous young athlete whose unshakable faith, spirit, positive outlook, and rousing motto, “BELIEVE!” would serve as inspiration to legions of fans—and as motivation in his own quest to walk again—Eric’s story has received national attention, heavily covered by ESPN and Sports IllustratedThis Is Gonna Hurt
By Tito Ortiz. 2008
He's the ultimate showman in the world's greatest spectator sport -- a controversial, charismatic figure who has dominated Ultimate Fighting…
for more than ten years as one of its most exciting and skillful stars. But for Tito Ortiz, life very nearly took a different path. Growing up in Huntington Beach, California, Ortiz spent part of his childhood living in motels and in the backs of other people's houses, as his heroin-addicted parents were forced to leave one apartment after another. By the time he was in sixth grade, he had dabbled in almost every drug available, and his early youth involved time in juvenile detention centers, a string of petty crimes, and a stint in a local gang. Then, in high school, Tito discovered wrestling -- the perfect match for this tough, streetwise, ambitious kid. Tito made his mixed martial arts debut at UFC 13 in 1997, winning his first fight in twenty-two seconds. In 2000, he was chosen as a light heavyweight contender in UFC 25 and took the belt, successfully defending it five times in the following three years. Tito Ortiz pulls no punches as he recounts his journey from Huntington Beach Bad Boy to UFC superstardom -- his difficult upbringing, his first marriage and struggles with fidelity, his battles with the UFC, his career highs and lows, and his current happy relationship with former porn star Jenna Jameson. An inspirational story of beating the odds, and an incredible glimpse into just what it takes to win in the world's most brutal arena, This Is Gonna Hurt is raw, frank, funny, and as fearless as its subject.Pray
By Nick Hornby. 2012
Nick Hornby, author of the bestselling soccer classic Fever Pitch, offers an insightful account of an extraordinary sports season. Concentrating…
on a number of significant games in British soccer during the 2011-2012 season, Hornby chronicles the emotional, political, and societal highlights and woes that played out on the field. There were alleged racist clashes, revealing the deep cultural fissures still present in British life. There was a fairy-tale return for the legendary Thierry Henry, and the terrifying collapse of Bolton's Fabrice Muamba, clinically dead for seventy-eight minutes after a heart attack. Throughout, Hornby delves into the impact of the economy on the beloved sport of Britain. As sheikhs and oligarchs buy and sell teams and players at astronomical financial levels, other teams are left behind to struggle with diminished talent. And as income inequality hits all-time highs worldwide, so it does in British soccer. It was a season of tumultuous incident and enormous entertainment, a season more glorious than most. By the end, in May 2012, fans of most clubs had been enthralled, appalled, depressed, elated, shocked, and enraged. Along the way, soccer had somehow managed to encompass politics, high finance, the law, and matters of life and death. Read all about it, and relive it, here.An American Caddie in St. Andrews
By Oliver Horovitz. 2013
A hilarious and poignant memoir of a Harvard student who comes of age as a caddie on St. Andrews’s fabled…
Old Course. In the middle of Oliver Horovitz’s high school graduation ceremony, his cell phone rang: It was Harvard. He’d been accepted, but he couldn’t start for another year. A caddie since he was twelve and a golfer sporting a 1. 8 handicap, Ollie decides to spend his gap year in St. Andrews, Scotland—a town with the U. K. ’s highest number of pubs per capita, and home to the Old Course, golf ’s most famous eighteen holes—where he enrolls in the St. Andrews Links Trust caddie trainee program. Initially, the notoriously brusque veteran caddies treat Ollie like a bug. But after a year of waking up at 4:30 A. M. every morning and looping two rounds a day, Ollie earns their grudging respect— only to have to pack up and leave for Harvard. There, Ollie’s new classmates are the sons of Albania’s UN ambassador, the owner of Heineken, and the CEO of Goldman Sachs. Surrounded by sixth generation legacies, he feels like a fish out of water all over again and can’t wait to get back to St. Andrews. Even after graduation, when his college friends rush to Wall Street, Horovitz continues to return each summer to caddie on the Old Course. A hilarious, irresistible, behind-the-scenes peek at the world’s most celebrated golf course—and its equally famous caddie shack—An American Caddie in St. Andrews is certain to not only entertain golfers and fans of St. Andrews but also anyone who dares to remember stumbling into adulthood and finding one’s place in the world. .