Book description
The Official History of the Olympic Games and the IOC: Athens to
London 1894-2012 is a dramatic account of the history of the
world's foremost sporting spectacle. It is the lavishly illustrated
story of the re-creation of the Olympic Games by Pierre de Coubertin,
of the often controversial fortunes of the governing body, which was
formed in 1894, and of the highs and lows of the Olympics themselves
since the first Games in 1896.
It also tells the stories of the historic competitors - from
Spyridon Louis (the inaugural marathon winner) and such heroes as Jim
Thorpe, Paavo Nurmi, Sonja Henie, Jesse Owens, Fanny Blankers-Koen,
Emil Zátopek, Herb Elliott, Kip Keino, Mark Spitz, Franz Klammer,
Sebastian Coe and Carl Lewis through to Hicham El Guerrouj, Michael
Phelps and Ya-Na Kim.
Each chapter begins with a personal reminiscence by either a famous
champion or a notable IOC figure. Detailed background is provided to
the many crises: the Nazi Games of 1936; the massacre at Mexico City
in 1968; the terrorist slaughter of Israelis at the 1972 Munich Games;
the boycotts; the advent of professionals from 1988; and the Ben
Johnson scandal and the ongoing threat of drug abuse.
As the sporting world awaits, with eager expectation, the 2012 Games
in London, this book gives an unparalleled account of the Olympics
story from its beginnings in Athens 1894 to the build-up to the Games
in London. This, the final volume of three ebooks, covers the modern
era (1984-2012).
David Miller has been a journalist since leaving Cambridge University
in 1956 and has covered 19 Summer and Winter Olympic Games, and 13 World
Cup football finals. He is the former chief sports correspondent of
The Times
and currently writes for the
Daily Telegraph
. He is the author of biographies of Matt Busby, Stanley Matthews,
Sebastian Coe, and Juan Antonio Samaranch (translated into eight
languages), and is joint author of IAAF 80, a history of 80 years of the
International Association of Athletics Federations.
