Book description
The vast majority of us can only dream of being an Olympic-level
athlete - but we have no real idea of what that means. Here, for the
first time, in all its shocking, funny and downright bizarre glory, is
the truth of the Olympic experience. It is an unimaginable world: the
kitting-out ceremony with its 35kg of team clothing per athlete the
pre-Olympic holding camp with its practical jokes, resentment and
fighting, and freaky physiological regimes the politicians' visits with
their flirty spouses the vast range of athletes with their odd body
shapes and freakish genetics the release post-competion in the Olympic
village with all the excessive drinking, eating, partying and sex (not
necessarily in that order) the hysteria of homecoming celebrations and
the comedown that follows - how do you adjust to life after the Games?
The Secret Olympian talks to scores of Olympic athletes - past and
present, from Munich 1960 right through to London 2012, including
British, American, Australian, Dutch, French, Croatian, German, Canadian
and Italian competitors. They all have a tale to tell - and most of
those tales would make your eyes pop more than an Olympic
weightlifter's. The anonymous author is a former Olympian with friends
and contacts in many countries' Olympic squads. He knows things...
