Do you love the Olympics? Here are some memoirs written by summer Olympians of years past. Take home the gold...in reading!
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Bravey : chasing dreams, befriending pain, and other big ideas
by Alexi Pappas The award-winning writer, filmmaker and Olympic athlete describes her childhood embrace of female role models in the aftermath of her mother’s suicide, detailing the hard work, unrelenting resolve and private depression that challenged her own ambitions. |
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Coming up for air
by Tom Daley In this deeply personal memoir, the celebrated Olympic Gold Medal diver and LGBTQ+ advocate discusses his struggles, triumphs and how he developed the mindset to compete at an elite level. |
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Courage to soar : a body in motion, a life in balance
by Simone Biles The gymnast relates how her faith and family saw her through several challenges, beginning from her childhood in foster care, and shares the professional journey that led to her earning a spot on the 2016 Olympic team. |
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Fierce : how competing for myself changed everything
by Aly Raisman Shares the author's journey to Olympic gold, including when she began her gymnastics training, how she dealt with naysayers who said she would never make it, and how she surrounded herself with a strong support system. |
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Let your mind run : a memoir of thinking my way to victory
by Deena Kastor The record-holding Olympic medalist runner presents a vividly inspirational memoir on the beneficial role of positive psychology and brain science of athletic achievements, describing how she only became an elite runner after she set aside the views about her raw talent to conquer the mental aspects of her goals. |
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Godspeed : a memoir
by Casey Legler A coming-of-age memoir by a former Olympic swimmer describes the crippling loneliness that marked her athletic childhood and her struggles with addiction and self-destructiveness prior to her diagnosis with autism. |
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Proud : my fight for an unlikely American dream
by Ibtihaj Muhammad Shares the life story of the Olympic fencer, including how she overcame feeling out of place in her sport and how she became the first American woman to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijab. |
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The race to be myself : a memoir
by Caster Semenya Olympian and World Champion Caster Semenya is finally ready to share the vivid and heartbreaking story of how the world came to know her name. Thrust into the spotlight at just eighteen years old after winning the Berlin World Championships in 2009, Semenya's win was quickly overshadowed by criticism and speculation about her body, and she became the center of a still-raging firestorm about how gender plays out in sports, our expectations of female athletes, and the right to compete as you are. |
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Unstoppable! : my journey from world champion to athlete A to 8 NCAA National gymnastics champion and beyond
by Maggie Nichols Maggie Nichols' official memoir is an inspirational tell-all about the abuse she suffered under the USA national gymnastic team and how she managed to redefine herself in the face of adversity. In 2015, Maggie risked everything when she revealed to her coach how USAG doctor Larry Nassar had been sexually abusing the athletes under his care. What ensued was an investigation that would capture the nation, involving multiple faculty members of the gymnastics team, and multiple gymnasts. An inspirational tell-all and intimate look into the world of elite gymnastics - from the Karolyi's to the politics of Olympic tryouts to grueling daily routines - Maggie now tells this story in her words: a story of trauma, reclaiming, and triumph. Featured in critically acclaimed documentaries including Netflix's Athlete A (2020) and HBO's At the Heart of Gold (2019), the story of Nassar's abuse - and the length members of the team took to cover it up - is a critical look into this harrowing history, now told for the first time in memoir by Maggie Nichols. |
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Work with what you got
by Zion Clark In this inspirational story of courage, determination, strength and self-invention, an elite wheelchair racer and wrestler recounts a childhood of abuse and neglect until he meets two saviors—a wrestling coach who sensed his “warrior spirit” and his adoptive mother who set him up for success. |